


Not Alone

by itwasonlyjustadream



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community: kakairu, Family, Kinda Mpreg but not really, M/M, Modern Era, Plot, Porn With Plot, Secret Organizations, minor deaths, some suicidal thoughts but no attempts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25817731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itwasonlyjustadream/pseuds/itwasonlyjustadream
Summary: Many times in his life Iruka's path has been crossed with Orochimaru's. A year after the death of his adoptive Father, Hiruzen Saratobi, Orochimaru is back in town. Raido has coincidentally gone missing, and it's up to Iruka and his two friends Kotetsu and Izumo to save him. Plans are thwarted, trust is betrayed, and somehow Kakashi is involved. Kakashi, who Iruka slept with once, and now can't seem to stop. Itachi and Sasuke are in the background mingling with his personal life, and Shikamaru is around to make life just a little more difficult.
Relationships: Hagane Kotetsu/Kamizuki Izumo, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Jiraiya/Tsunade (Naruto), Namiashi Raidou/Shiranui Genma, Sarutobi Asuma/Yuuhi Kurenai
Comments: 15
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, please feel free to add comments or critiques. This piece of literature is already complete, and I took my time to edit through everything, so hopefully, there are no major mistakes. Thank you in advance for reading this, it means a lot to me!
> 
> Also just like in a movie this story is fast pace, many things take place within a quick span on time. Still I think its accessible, and I'm excited for you to read it! Thank you again, and best wishes!

"Fuck!" Iruka moaned out, because this...this very moment was so fucking fantastic. He was having sex with a handsome stranger (in a fancy hotel room, on a super soft bed) who touched him in all the right places. Right now those pale hands were on his ass grabbing as Iruka rode him. The man wouldn't stop staring at where they were joined. Iruka had leaned back to give the man a better view.

They were taking their time. Iruka on top, was moving slowly, letting that big throbbing hot dick drag against that delicious spot inside of him. He was moaning loudly, his ass cheeks were slapping down against the man’s thighs. The man's pale hands still kneading his ass, the movement consuming both of them.

"Fuck you're so hot," the silver-haired man spoke. "Wanna see you cum."

Iruka wanted to cum too, but he hadn't had dick in a while and he wanted to make this last, the stronger didn't seem to object. The sexual chemistry between them was intense. He's never met a stranger who wasn't in it for a quick fuck, yet this silver-haired deity was willing to take it slow. Iruka sank back down and rolled his hips as he did so, he tightened down on the man and started again. "Hhhuuuuyyhhhhhh!" Iruka moaned and bit his lip. Iruka needed more; he had to pick up the pace; he started moving in earnest now.

"Ssssshhiiitttt!" Iruka cried out, he was turning himself on by his movements; it felt fantastic. They were both breathing faster now, Iruka felt his own cock throbbing. The kind stranger reached a hand out to help him along. 

"Come on, wanna see you cum," the silver fox encouraged, "you're so beautiful." 

Iruka knew that the man was close; the tension in his body was immaculate. He wondered why he was restraining himself so thoroughly. It seems this stranger was also interested in making this last.

A pale hand stroked Iruka’s achingly hard dick and increased his pleasure, dragging him closer and closer, the other pale hand reached up and played with a nipple. Both sensations felt incredible, especially because he still felt the shadows of where the man had gripped his ass kissed into his skin.

Iruka couldn't take it anymore, with one final slap down he screamed as intense pleasure rang through his body, he shot his load across the man's chest. A second later he felt white hot cum filled his ass, and he whined at the sensation. He couldn't believe he had been so reckless; he had unprotected sex with a stranger! But for some reason that was so fuckin hot!

The man flipped their positions, so he was on top, Iruka's bed hitting the comfortable bed, "Wanna go again?" He hadn't removed himself from his body, and that thought alone made Iruka's spent cock throb.

"Yeah," Iruka agreed.

The silver-haired man had different colored eyes. One was blood red with a long scar across it, and the other a beautiful blue, they were studying each other's faces for a moment. His stranger has a thin nose and nice lips. They weren't quite full, but they weren't too thin. Iruka licked his own lips and the stranger took it as an invitation; kissing him passionately.

They had chemistry here too; Iruka opened his mouth and let himself be dominated. The stranger tasted him, thrusting his tongue in and out of his mouth as if to claim him. Iruka added his own tongue to the fray, it wasn't long before they were both hard again. Iruka couldn't stop the moan that rippled through him when he felt the man reach full hardness inside of him.

The man pulled back dragging Iruka onto his lap and throwing a leg over his shoulder. He reached a hand down to give Iruka a handjob, as he began to thrust into him. Iruka couldn't wait to be filled with cum again, fuck, it was so hot. 

He let the man set the pace; the stranger was moving slowly at first but somehow Iruka knew he would build it up later.

Iruka was feeling nothing but pure pleasure. He curled his toes, "Hhhuuuyyhh, nnnnggguuyyhhh!" Iruka whined, he really did like having a dick inside of him. He felt so full and satisfied, and he was so painfully hard. The man knew how to give a good handjob too, he was the ideal sex partner. 

Iruka began to thrust down on the man's dick, and the man increased his speed moving faster and faster. Iruka screamed when the stranger found his pleasure point; the man gripped his waist and doubled down on that area. His aim was perfect, Iruka was drooling; he became a blubbering mess as his sweet spot was struck over and over. His body felt like it was being light up inside as pleasure sparked through him. He didn't care what sounds were leaving his mouth; his hand gripped the sheets trying to hold onto this pleasure as long as possible. "Shit, I'm close!" Iruka moaned.

"Cum for me, wanna see you cum again!" the man demanded.

Iruka couldn't quite keep his composure, and he came with a loud shout; he spilled his cum all over his own chest. The man exited his body and moved to lap up the cum. Cleaning every inch, it was surprising but it was also so perfect. The man was intense about it, once cleaned up he sucked onto Iruka's dick trying to get every last drop. As he reached a hand up to tease his nipples. 

"Want your dick." Iruka asked, because he knew the man hadn't cum yet.

"In a sec, wanna get you hard again."

"Fuck, you're perfect."

The man chuckled, and Iruka found he liked the sound. "Thank you, but truly, you are perfect." the man insisted, "So fuckin gorgeous, can't believe I have you here right now."

Iruka blushed, at the words but couldn't quite respond, his dick twitched and he was somehow hard again. "How do you want me?" he asked. 

"On your hands and knees," the man decided.

"You got it," Iruka quickly turned around. 

The man spread his ass apart and hummed, "So freakin sexy,"

Iruka jolted when he felt a tongue at his entrance, "You do it all." He purred.

"Indeed," The man worked his tongue into Iruka's entrance; tasting his own cum. He was taking his time; figuring out which way to twist his tongue to make Iruka moan louder. Without warning he pulled back and shoved his dick in easily. The sound Iruka made was the loudest sound of the night, and it was incredibly obscene. "Shit, you're so fuckin hot!" The man praised him.

He thrust in deeply, holding nothing back because he knew Iruka could take it. They lasted long into the night, the sound of skin on skin echoing around the room. Iruka’s moans vibrating through both of them. Iruka was nearly shaking with pleasure, and it just wouldn’t stop. He was becoming overwhelmed but he in no way wanted it to stop. He wanted more and more, every last drop. Finally, the man grunted and unleashed his load into Iruka; he collapsed on Iruka's back, and they fell into the mattress together. Iruka was still hard, and while the man was still breathing harshly and coming down from his high he rolled over and pulled Iruka on top of him. "You close?" he asked.

"Yeah," Iruka said after a moment, please the man was aware of his erection.

"Ride my face." The man responded.

"Really?" Iruka asked excited.

"Hell yeah!" The man encouraged him.

Iruka moved to straddle the man's face, he let the stranger get accustomed to his size, cum was falling from his ass onto the mans face. For someone who just came the man seemed ready to go again. Iruka was teetering on the edge because the man was good and talented with his mouth. When he knew the man could take it, he thrust his dick down into his mouth. Iruka moaned when the man entered him with three fingers. He was fucking the man’s mouth and riding his fingers at the same time. Iruka held off for as long as he could before cumming down the man's throat. Iruka moved back carefully so he didn't hurt him and was surprised to find that the man was hard again. Without being asked he began to ride the man again, hard and fast. It didn't take long before the man grabbed his waist and pulled him down as he came again deep inside of Iruka. They were both breathing roughly, and staring into each other's eyes.

Iruka didn't feel like he could move, he was so satisfied and exhausted. He just wanted to sleep, forgetting the shower all together, but alas he couldn't overstay his welcome.

"Hey," the man grabbed Iruka and pulled him down next to him, "spend the night here."

"Really?" Iruka asked, surprised, he found himself cuddling the man.

"Yeah, I'd really like that." the man said honestly.

Iruka paused for a moment, truly he didn't feel like moving, "Alright."

*************************************************************************

When Iruka woke up in the morning the man was gone, he was in the hotel room by himself. He sat up and immediately found his way to the shower ignoring everyone else. He showered until he felt truly clean, making sure to get the cum out of his ass. He grabbed a towel, rubbing his face into the softness for a moment to long. He put on his clothes from last night. Delicious fragrances overpowered him and found himself moving toward the smell. An aesthetically pleasing breakfast appeared before him. Fruit was cut intricately into a variety shapes, with a bowl of yogurt on the side. Shokupan toast and jam was also available along with eggs and rice.It was a really sweet gesture and a note was set out for him.

Last night was incredible! Please text or call me anytime, (number included)! I made you a beautiful breakfast because you’re a truly beautiful man. I’ll see you soon! Feel free to stay for as long as you like.

A hemenonji was left at the bottom of the note but with no name.

"I’ll see you soon?" Iruka wondered, it was a bit creepy to be honest, but he decided to overlook it and put the note in his pocket. He ate the breakfast and was pleased to find it tasted just as delicious as it looked. He left the hotel and used an app to catch a ride to his apartment.

****************************************************************************************************************************************************

He had a few hours to spare before the event at the office today. He worked at his Father's company, something he honestly never saw himself doing. He wondered what the man would think if he knew. He used to teach at the local K-12 school. He had truly loved it. He even got the chance to teach his little brother once, which was actually really fun. Naruto and Iruka had both been adopted into the Sarutobi family after tragic accidents took both their parents away. Iruka was adopted first, before Naruto had even been born. Biwako, their mother had a soft spot and enough love in her heart for all of them. Both of their adoptions had been her idea. She passed away long ago, right after adopting Naruto, when Iruka was still a child. When Hiruzen got older, Iruka had taken full responsibility for raising Naruto. The little rascal was currently spending the summer with his birth grandfather, and Iruka missed him dearly but he knew he was in good hands. The event tonight was in Hiruzen's honor...the man was really gone.

Iruka went to his bedroom and laid down on the bed, he already felt emotionally exhausted by the upcoming events of today. He replayed last night in his mind and found his hand moving down to his pants. He took his dick out and held his meat in his hand. He was so hard already. He closed his eyes and thought about what the stranger's dick felt like inside of him. He thought about the man's tongue on his entrance. He couldn't take it anymore, he pulled off his pants and underwear and walked to his bedroom. He grabbed a vibrating dildo and rubbed it up with lube. He laid down on the bed and worked himself open with his fingers before inserting it.He opened his legs wider as it worked it's magic and jerked himself off. He let his imagination run wild, the stranger was stroking him off and had his dick deep inside of him. Iruka moaned aloud as the memories of last night flooded into his makeshift reality. It didn't take long before he came; releasing his seed all over himself and ruining his shirt. He didn't care for a moment and let the dildo continue to vibrate inside of him. Want to go again? He imagined the man's words, he touched his nipples and willed himself to get hard again. He wanted to go again and again. He wound up cumming two more times before he finally stopped. He showered again, and decided to take a quick nap.

**********************************************************

Iruka adjusted his tie and fumbled with the buttons of his suit; the material was smooth against his skin juxtaposing the different emotions he was experiencing. 

"Stop fidgeting." Asuma said firmly, putting a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "Please don't...I...you have to be my rock today."

Iruka hummed wishing that Kurenai was here in his place. She just had the baby (a beautiful girl named Mirai) a month ago and insisted that neither of them were ready to be seen by the public. 

Iruka gave his older brother a reassuring smile; he hated everything about this. He missed being a teacher; he wanted to be far away from here, he wanted to be back in a classroom. Kids don't judge you the way adults do. Don't stare at you with pity, don't judge you when you don't cry in front of them. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment; it was a pipe dream. He had officially quit teaching in order to support Asuma. It's been once year since Asuma officially took over their Father's company. He wished he could pretend that this was under the right circumstance. That his Father got old and passed the company down, instead of just...passing away.

Kazuma, their older brother, had quit in order to support Asuma too. Iruka wished he was here instead. Kazuma always knew the right things to say. He was abroad right now working on some logistics for the company. His wife, Kasi, and their son, Konohamaru, were here thankfully. Iruka knew Kazuma's constant traveling had taken a toll on them this past year too. Honestly, this had been a shitty year, and this was a damn awful day.

Iruka couldn’t think about that right now. Instead, he nodded and pushed Asuma along. He spoke a few calming words to his frazzled looking brother, "Your ideas for the company are great Asuma. Just speak with confidence. Dad would...you've really stepped up this year in running this company. We're all so proud of you. Just be calm, you've practiced this speech a thousand times, you're ready. Stand straight, speak confidently, and be charming. You got this!"

Asuma gave Iruka a quick hug before he ascended the stage, he called everyone to attention before he began his speech. "Thank you everyone for attending. Thank you for coming here to celebrate the life of my Father," he paused for the round of applause.

It's been one year since Hiruzen Sarutobi passed. A slideshow that Iruka couldn't look at began to play in the background. Asuma's speech continued, "This year I had the pleasure of walking in my Father's footsteps. By taking over my Father's company I really feel that I've been able to be closer to him even after death. My Father carried such a heavy load on his back and now I have firmly embraced his position. I can only hope that my Father is proud of the changes I have made to this company. My ideas to modernize our company while they were met with some restraint have led to an increase of overall revenue..."

Iruka tuned out, Asuma had practiced the speech with him a thousand times, they had even written it together. He wanted to be anywhere but here, wearing a tuxedo that was too expensive, pretending like his Father's death didn't feel so fresh in his mind. Wearing a smile, cracking cheesy jokes, being fake. He wanted to be at home, watching a movie, and falling asleep on the couch. He had to be strong, for his family and the company. Asuma's speech went over well and there was applause. He met Asuma in one of the offices to debrief with him. He highlighted the most popular moments, and reassured him that it went well. 

"Thank you Iruka, I...couldn't have done this without you." Asuma gave him a rare smile. "Are you going to leave now?"

He wanted to say yes, this was his way out, but Asuma looked desperate. Iruka was the only family member Asuma could rely on right now. "No, I'll stay for another hour or so.” he compromised.

"Thank you!" Asuma looked relieved, "Can you tell me who I need to schmooze again?'

"Of course, I'll even give you some details that might be helpful." Iruka agreed and suddenly he was back in party mode. He went through the motions, the only genuine moment he experienced had been with was with Itachi and Sasuke. They lived in the same apartment building and Iruka had taken to looking out for them. He wasn't sure they needed it' they were technically leaders of their own company. It was mostly Itachi’s company, while Sasuke was still learning the ropes. Naruto and Sasuke were best friends; he knew that they missed each other greatly. He leaned forward to give Sasuke a quick hug but once he held onto him he almost didn’t let go. He took a shuddering breath and then he gave Itachi a similar hug.

“Are you okay?” Itachi asked, concerned.

“We can leave if you want,” Sasuke added, “We can go home together.”

“I’m fine,” Iruka assured them, “I have to go greet the others. Text me if you would like to come over for dinner later.”

He really wanted to go home with them but instead he went to the bathroom, composed himself and went back to schmoozing.

A few hours the party was finally over. He can't believe he stayed for the whole thing. He had to grab a file from his office so after saying goodbye to all the leaving guests, he and Asuma headed upstairs. His head felt like it was in a daze as he went up the elevator and made his way through the empty building to his office. Asuma went to his own office; they were both quiet, both too sad to really say anything to one another. Iruka was surprised to see someone in his office, "Hey sorry, the party is over. Everyone's supposed to be leav-"

"Don't remember me?" 

Iruka froze knowing that voice, amidst everything he nearly forgot about the random hook up he had last night. The stranger was a creep! He had talked about meeting up later that day in that note and now the man was literally inside of his office. Iruka looked around his office for a makeshift weapon, he needed to stall, "Hey man look I don't how you got my location but-"

"Kakashi Hatake?!" Asuma asked, surprised as he entered the room, "My goodness! What are you doing here?"

His brother's childhood friend, and business mogul, Kakashi Hatake? He had a one night stand with him?!?! Kakashi always wore a flexible clothing material sort of mask that covered the lower half of his face. He also usually wore his hair lower on one side to cover his eye. But now Iruka knew...he had discolored eyes, one a dark blue, the other, stunning red with a scar running through it....but...last night he hadn't. He was nearly unrecognizable without his typical cover up, it's why he didn't recognized him last night. Not to mention he hadn't run into the man since his father's...since last year.

"I came to celebrate your success, of course." Kakashi said charmingly and fell in step besides Asuma as the pair began to leave the building, Iruka trailing behind, "Besides I was invited."

"You were, I just figured-"

"I know," Kakashi agreed, "I've missed a lot. I've been abroad for a few years, on business. However, I’m in the process of moving back. I would love to set up a meeting with you actually, there is much to discuss."

"Of course," Asuma agreed, "I'll have my people call your people."

"Agreed." Kakashi said appreciatively, "Care to grab a drink?"

"Sorry," Asuma frowned, "I have to get back to Kurenai and the baby. Kurenai stayed up for me so I could tell her how everything went."

"I already sent her a recording of your speech," Iruka interjected, "she was impressed."

"Really?" Asuma beamed, "I can't wait to go home and see her." They rode the elevator down together. "We will definitely catch up soon Kakashi."

"Indeed," Kakashi agreed, Asuma raced off to the garage to grab his car. Kakashi and Iruka walked to the garage in a slower space.

"You didn't use the valet?" Iruka asked, wondering if the man was following him.

"I did not." Kakashi admitted, "I actually need a ride back to my hotel, I took a taxi here."

Iruka gave an annoyed sigh, "Alright I'll drive you."

"Thanks." Kakashi beamed, "Is anyone else here?"

"Don't think so," Iruka brought them to his expensive neon baby blue car.

"Good," Kakashi moved quickly. He pushed Iruka against the door of his car, pulled down his mask and kissed him hot and fast.

Iruka moaned and bit the older man's lip, and pulled their bodies closer together. Kakashi was such a good kisser; he melted against Iruka's mouth in the most pleasant sort of way. Too soon Kakashi pulled away and gave Iruka a cheeky grin.

"Why did you sto-"

"Hey guys!" Asuma yelled at them out the window of his car, "I'm heading out. Iruka contact security and make sure they lock up the garage."

"Got it!" Iruka said coolly even though he knew his face was blushing dark red.

"Kakashi do you want a ride to your car?" Asuma asked in a friendly manner.

Kakashi's mask was back up as soon as Asuma spoke. Iruka wasn't even sure how he even timed it. "Iruka volunteered to drive me back to my hotel." 

Asuma gave Iruka a thumbs up, "Alright sounds good. Goodnight you two!" He gave them a friendly honk as he pulled away from them.

Kakashi walked around the car and hopped in the passenger seat, Iruka got into the driver's seat. "So, sex?" Iruka asked as he pulled out of the spot.

"Sure, as long as you promise to stay the night." Kakashi requested.

Iruka wasn't sure what to make of the statement, "Not that it matters but I didn't know you were Kakashi Hatake.” He revealed as he pulled out of his parking spot.

"Would it have made a difference?" Kakashi curiously asked.

"I wouldn’t have slept with you in the first place." Iruka said honestly and raised a brow, "You're kind of the competition, it's a bad business practice."

Kakashi studied Iruka for a moment, "Yet you want to have sex again?"

"Sure," Iruka shrugged, "it's not like I can unsex you besides, tonight was stressful. It'd be nice to blow off some steam." He winked at the pun and Kakashi's cheeks heated up.

"Alright, but you can't leave until after breakfast."

"When's breakfast?" Iruka asked, "I have to be at work by ten."

"Great, we'll eat at 8am." Kakashi decided.

"Deal." Iruka moved one hand off the wheel and gestured for Kakashi to shake it.

"Deal." Kakashi agreed, and they shook hands on it.

It turns out that there wasn't much blowing going on, but he was working off some steam.

"Ah fuck!" Kakashi moaned, Iruka was above him riding him as if he was born to do it. And kami, it was hot. Iruka

had worked up a sweat; this position put all of his lean muscles to work. Partially his calves which he was using to project himself up and down. His jaw was slack and he moaned every now and then, his hands were playing with his own nipples, chest heaving every now and then with effort. He was getting tired, but he never lost the perfect pace he had set up, bobbing up and down on Kakashi's dick."Oh kami!" Iruka moaned out, one hand reached down to stroke his waning wet dick, "I'm going to cum."

Kakashi grabbed onto Iruka's hips wanting nothing more than to see the man spill on his chest, and scream his name. He thrust up as Iruka thrust down; the younger man went back to playing with his nipples. Kakashi began thrusting harder and harder. Iruka's pace never faltered but he did move his hands down to grab at Kakashi's wrists for more support. 

"Cum for me, babe." Kakashi grunted and Iruka spilled out on his chest with a shout of the older man's name. Iruka had come undone on top of him and honestly it was the hottest and most beautiful thing Kakashi has ever experienced. Iruka almost fell backwards, legs burning as he nearly toppled off of Kakashi's dick. With quick speed the silver-haired man grabbed onto Iruka; he sat up pulling him tightly to his body so they were chest to chest. Iruka draped himself over Kakashi's body. He reached a hand back to grab at Kakashi's dick as he sat up briefly and guided it back inside of him.

"Fill me with your cum." Iruka commanded, his voice was deep and a tad sleepy. It was clear the man didn't really feel like moving. Then, Iruka tightened around him and pressed his lips against Kakashi's; kissing him with renewed energy and vigor. He used his knees this time to rock back and forth on Kakashi 's dick, keeping his ass tight, "Come on, Kashi . " he whispered against the older man's lips.

"Shit," Kakashi grunted and thrust up once, both of them stilling as Kakashi emptied himself inside of Iruka , his back hitting the backboard Iruka still on top of him. The silver-haired nin lazily sought a kiss from Iruka, and received a lazy one in return. They were content to simply touch one another smooth strokes as they felt each other up and kissed each other sloppily. Iruka snuggled into Kakashi's neck and pulled his arms into his chest, a few moments later the man was sleeping. Kakashi placed him gently on the bed. He grabbed a warm wet cloth from the bathroom, and cleaned him up; ass included. He wiped himself down as well before throwing it to the corner of his hotel room. He got in bed next to Iruka and pulled the man tightly against him. 

He liked Iruka; he had liked him ever since the man yelled at him when they were children. Kakashi is pretty sure that Iruka doesn't even remember, but Kakashi has pinned for him ever since. He thought he got lucky when he picked him up in the bar yesterday. Iruka...Iruka didn't know how deep his feelings ran and Kakashi didn't have the courage to tell him...but one day he will. So he'll keep holding onto Iruka until then. He slept with a smile on his face.

When he woke up in the morning Iruka was gone. It took a moment to process, the warm body cuddled up to him was gone, the spot next to him on the bed was cold. He sat up, "Iruka?" he called out gruffly, they had a deal! He jumped out of bed and ran around the hotel room frantically, looking in the different rooms. They were empty, Iruka wasn't here, the idiot had left him all alone. Kakashi didn't even have Iruka's number, he couldn't call him, he was so upset- the hotel door beeped interrupting his thoughts. 

Iruka entered fully dressed, wearing a completely different outfit, he had a bag in his hands. He looked at Kakashi and raised an eyebrow, "Why are you naked, and why do you have that bewildered expression on your face?" 

Kakashi took a second to compose himself, forcing a passive voice, "You...you left." 

"We agreed on breakfast," Iruka pointed out, "so I went to get some food. It's 8am on the dot, if you cared to notice."

"You bought clothes too?" Kakashi asked, wondering just exactly what time Iruka had woken up.

"No, I had this outfit in the car." Iruka, said and he moved to the table placing the food there. He got some of the complimentary plates and began to serve them. They each got two pancakes, some eggs, and some breakfast potatoes. A western breakfast. Kakashi watched him quietly, his heart slowly returning to it's normal pace. He sat down across from Iruka, as the man began to politely eat. "Do you normally eat breakfast naked?"

Kakashi laughed, it was airy and light, he was still reeling from earlier, "No actually," he replied, "why didn't you wake me up before you left?"

"Had to clear my head." Iruka waved off the question, "So what's this big business meeting you want to have with my brother about?"

"It's classified." Kakashi finally began to eat the food, feeling slightly more relaxed. Iruka was going to have him on the edge of his toes.

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "You know that I'm going to hear about it eventually."

"I know," Kakashi said honestly, Iruka ignored him for a moment as he went through his phone. 

"The meeting is set for Monday at 3pm," Iruka told him, placing his own phone down.

"What are your plans for today?" Kakashi asked, it was Sunday and he hoped the man wasn't working.

"I have some work to attend to.”

Iruka was being cold, and Kakashi was starting to feel out of his element, he was socially awkward, he didn't know what to say. They lapsed into silence as they still ate some food. "You didn't always work for Sarutobi Industries." he tried once they were nearly done eating.

"No." Iruka said softly, and Kakashi saw a sad glint in his eyes, "I used to be a teacher."

"That sounds like it suits you." Kakashi said, choosing a neutral tone of voice, he was careful not to startle the man out of his forthcoming attitude.

"It did," Iruka said softly his expression was open and his eyes were wide with emotion as he stared off into space. The older man watched those brown eyes once again grow cold, "but I'm needed at the family business. Supporting Asuma, picking up the slack, making sure everyone adjusts to the new leadership." Iruka abruptly stood up, realizing that he over shared "We've finished eating, I think this breakfast is over."

"When can I see you again?" the words blurted out of Kakashi's mouth, he had wanted to be more subtle. He didn't want to frighten the man away. "My house was being refurbished, the changes are great, if you want you can come-"

Iruka gave him an unreadable look as he cut him off, "You do realize this is just sex right?" he told him blankly.

"For now." Kakashi corrected him.

"Excuse me?" Iruka blanked, what was that supposed to mean?

"For now," Kakashi repeated the words loaded with meaning that Iruka couldn't quite understand.

"Okay." Iruka said kurtly, "Well I have to go."

"Goodbye." Kakashi responded, fighting against his instincts to pull Iruka down and closer to him. He desperately wanted a farewell kiss.

"Bye." Iruka replied, he placed the hotel key he borrowed on the table and left without another word.

Kakashi vowed that he would break through Iruka's walls.

On the way home Iruka was still turning the words over in his head. He realized as he pulled into his parking spot that maybe Kakashi was planning a future with him...Which was strange. It was stranger how he didn't think the idea was that displeasing, but the timing wasn't ideal and Iruka didn't want a relationship...right? Right, he just wanted to be left alone.


	2. Chapter 2

He entered his office directly on time. His best friends Kotetsu and Izumo seemed to be waiting for him outside his office.

"Hey Iruka!" Kotetsu noticed him first.

"Iruka!" Izumo called in greeting.

"Hey guys!" Iruka greeted them, "I heard that your new project is going well and will soon be in the testing phase of development. Is there a problem going on?” he asked. He looked at his assistant desk and noticed it was empty.

“Can we speak in your office?” Izumo asked, in his serious way.

Iruka nodded his head and opened his office, his friends entered quickly and he closed it behind them. “My assistant is going to enter at any moment, make it quick.” He warned them.

Izumo and Kotetsu made eye contact with one another before turning to Iruka. Kotetsu spoke up, "Apparently, Raido is missing."

Iruka felt his heart drop, "Seriously? What do you think happened?”. Secretly, he had Kotetsu and Izumo monitoring a certain situation. With Kotetsu’s hacking skills, and Izumo’s intelligence and strategic skill, Iruka was gaining information he probably shouldn’t have access to. One of those results being that Orochimaru, a crime Lord, had recently returned to Konoha. Orochimaru has been quiet since coming back but Iruka couldn't get rid of the possibility that Orochimaru could be behind Raido’s disappearance.

"We're not sure." Izumo replied, "But we ran into Genma yesterday, he wasn’t allowed to tell us but he was so distraught we managed to get the information anyway. We think Raido is in serious trouble." Genma was a detective, he and Kazuma actually used to be partners before Kazuma quite. Genma couldn't share case files and he was way too close to the case. He was probably being kept out of the loop. It's been a few years since Raido and Genma have been together, their love was obvious to everyone. Especially if you know how much of a hoe Genma was before. Iruka could only imagine how heartbroken Genma was. They had to do something; he needed to think.

"Hmm," Iruka responded, "Kakashi Hatake is back in town. Raido has been heading his company ever since he went abroad. Do you think Lightning Technologies is under attack or do you think it’s something personal? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Hatake comes back to town just as Raido disappears.”

“Are you suggesting Hatake is in charge of the disappearance?” Kotetsu asked, surprised.

“No,” Iruka said honestly, “that would be bad for business. I think Hatake learned about the disturbance and came to see if he could fix it.Maybe he came to try the case as himself. Our top priority right now is trying to get Raido back safe. Izumo I need you to find the person in charge of his case-”

“It’s Anko,” Izumo responded. “I can send you a file later with all we know, which isn’t much at this point. We don’t even know where or when he got abducted.”

Iruka hummed, “Kotetsu hack in the police database-”

“Are you sure?” Izumo asked, “We almost got in trouble last time; we almost got caught-”

“You’re not going to get caught; you’re not even going to get close.” Iruka responded, “Use secret location #19.”

“The wifi there is shit,” Kotetsu complained, “but I should still be able to manage it.”

Iruka hummed, “Kotetsu do that tonight, today I need a few places searched. Raido and Genma’s apartment, Raido’s office. I need Anko’s case files, if we can’t access them remotely then we have to get them in person.”

“The case is still growing, what if she receives new information?” Kotetsu pointed out.

“I can set up a camera in the police station,” Izumo said, “we would be able to see every time she updates the file. But I would need to do that tonight, which would leave Kotetsu all alone.”

“Do it,” Iruka agreed. 

“No, I can hack into the police cameras, and we can survey her whenever she adds to the case.” Kotetsu tried.

“The angle wouldn’t be right, setting a mini camera on the lamp she uses at her desk would ensure a proper angle.” Izumo argued.

Iruka thought for a moment, “Let’s go with Kotetsu’s plan, Izumo your plan is too risky. Alright that should be enough for now, do you think Asuma is on the case?” 

Kazuma, Asuma, Genma, Kurenai, Kakashi, Raido, Gai, Anko, Ibiki, and a few other members used to work undercover for a private investigation company run by Shikaku Nara. They took on cases that the police declined to work on. After a few too many mistakes the company was shut down, this was unnoticed by most of the population of Konoha. Shikaku Nara became mayor, Genma, Anko, Kazuma, and Ibiki became cops (and later detectives) in their own right. Kazuma recently quit his job in order to support Asuma. Essentially, everyone moved on, but the skills everyone acquired from doing the job never went away.

Kotetsu, Izumo, and Iruka worked with the company at a young age and held very small positions. They were in high school when it shut down, everyone else had been in college. Izumo, Kotetsu, and Iruka stole a bunch of material before the company officially shut down. They all assumed that Shikaku knew, but he never ratted them out.They cultivated their skill and the three of them were one unit. It was always assumed that other units were also working underground but nothing had ever been confirmed. Asuma was one of the people, who they suspected was in a unit, but pretty much everyone was on the list.

“I’m not sure, but I will check his office tonight.” Iruka responded. “I will dig up some information where I can. We’ll meet up at my apartment whenever you guys are done hacking and bring our evidence together.”

“I need a few days to get everything done,” Izumo requested, “at least two. I’m still working on my project for work, as is Kotetsu.” Kotetsu nodded in confirmation.

“Right of course,” Iruka realized his mistake, and then the door to his office was opened.

“Good morning,” Shikamaru, Iruka’s assistant said and placed the man’s coffee on his desk. “It didn’t say you had a meeting this early today. Were they presenting their research?”

“This is more of a friendly chat,” Iruka said, “i’ll text you both later. Shikamaru, what's on my schedule today?” After graduating high school at the age of fourteen Shikamaru went into the workforce. He had originally worked closely with Hiruzen, and then Asuma, and now he worked as Iruka’s assistant. While Shikamaru got the job done, he also did things randomly, lazily, and without any emotion. The young strategist really got under his buttons sometimes, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Shikamaru had been one of Iruka's students in the past. He was extremely bright, it was great to work with him, even if the boy’s lack of motivation could sometimes be annoying. Shikamaru was sixteen now, and was finally working on getting a degree. Iruka didn’t need a full-time assistant so the arrangement worked out well. Still Shikamaru was quick to text him if he believed Iruka would forget or overlook something on the schedule. 

With Shikamaru giving him a rundown of the day, Iruka had to shift his focus back to work. He found himself distracted most of the day. He needed to know Raido's location; he needed the man to be alive.

*******************Later that day************

It had been a long work day but Iruka was staying even later, he had to spy on his brother. Honestly, the information he expected to find was...worrisome. What if Asuma really was apart of unit? He'd just been hiding it all these years! He'd lied to his face, it...wasn't going to be pleasant.

“Hey,” Asuma entered his office, “it’s late, are you going home soon?”

“In a bit,” Iruka promised.

Asuma nodded his head, “It’s getting late,” he repeated himself, worried about his little brother. He checked his watch, “Iruka it’s past midnight. Go home and get some rest.”

“I miss Naruto,” Iruka explained, showing emotion would work with Asuma, “I’m going to leave soon.”

Asuma gave him a sad small, “Okay, just a few more minutes. Have you eaten yet? You need to stay healthy; Naruto will need you in tip top shape when you come back.”

Iruka nodded, “I ate earlier, don’t worry about me. I’ll see you soon.” He stood up and hugged his brother tightly. Asuma returned the gesture and went to leave. Iruka went to his office and closed the door, making sure Asuma could hear it close. He stood by the door and waited an acceptable amount of time. Asuma would take the elevator downstairs, and head to the parking garage, it was likely he was already talking to Kurenai on his cellphone so he was distracted. Too distracted to notice that his keys were missing, Iruka had swiped it when they hugged.

Iruka left his office now and headed for Asuma’s. He unlocked the office door, naturally, he had a master key already. One time, however, while snooping around Asuma’s office to pull a prank he noticed a secret compartment under his desk. He never brought it up, but he has noticed a very small key that Asuma keeps on his keychain. He wasn’t quite sure where to insert the key. After searching for two minutes (two minutes too long) he banged the desk loudly out of frustration. The movement actually seemed to do the trick. It was subtle, almost inaudible over the sound of his fist hitting the table, but he heard it; a click. He checked again, and a little block of wood had appeared. Right next to the first drawer, he saw the keyhole and almost cheered with relief, he unlocked it. The secret compartment that was directly under the desk’s middle slid out, nearly hitting him in the stomach. It was huge! Iruka grabbed his phone, he pulled out the first file and shifted through it.

A file documenting Information about Raido’s disappearance was at the top, he couldn’t read through it now; he snapped pictures of all five pages and put it back. He picked exactly two more files, he was barely looking at the contents just hoping to get lucky. They were directly under Raido’s file, so they might be related. He took pictures of what was inside and shoved them back in. He locked the desk, gave the room a quick look around to make sure everything and in place; thenn locked the door carefully on his way out. He ran back to his office. He dropped the keys directly outside his office, and then grabbed his already packed satchel. he timed it perfectly; just as he stepped outside his office, Asuma was entering the floor. Iruka purposely stepped on the keys, the jingle getting Asuma’s attention. Iruka made eye contact with Asuma constructing a surprised/confused look on his face before he stepped back. He leaned down to pick them up, “Your keys”

“My keys,” they spoke at the same time. 

Iruka handed them to Asuma, “You barely waited until she was a month old before you had that keychain made.”

“She looks adorable,” Asuma responded. They made conversation as they walked to the car, Iruka trying to forget the fact that he literally had evidence that his brother was still working on cases. He served in a unit. Was he still working under Shikaku Nara? Did he have his own unit (The same way Iruka and his friends did)? It was unlikely, Asuma's evidence seemed...professional while Iruka and his friends usually put scraps together. Which means Asuma was working for someone, an orginization. They parted ways, and went to their separate homes. Iruka supposed that it was only natural. They may be different but they were still brothers, and by that logic that means Kazuma must also be part of a unit. Was he in Asuma’s unit? Were his brothers working together without him? His hands tightened on the steering wheel.

****************************************************************************************

"Hello Orochimaru," Kohari smiled at the pale long haired boy as he entered the kitchen. She was making dinner, the teen was always welcome at her house, he even had a key, "Grandma out of town again?"

"Yes ma'am." the teen said respectively. "Where is-"

"Iruka is in his crib, taking a nap," she responded knowing the question, "he should be waking up to eat soon. You can go grab him if you like! Wash your hands first!" 

He nodded his head and went upstairs, he went to the bathroom first to wash his hands and then headed to the nursery. Iruka was already awake, he was reaching for the dolphins hanging above his crib, and gurgling along to the light lullaby playing on the CD player. Orochimaru turned the disk off and went over to stare down at him. He was adorable, his brown hair reaching skywards all messed up, and his little chubby uncoordinated arms were trying playfully to reach the dolphins. Orochimaru recognized the moment his little eyes saw him and then began to reach for him.

"Hi Iruka-kun," he whispered and picked up the baby. He smelled perfect, all warm and soft, so small and fragile. Ever since the day Iruka was born Orochimaru knew he wanted to protect him. He had visited the neighbors a lot already. They welcomed him with open arms, and since he was alone, it made each hug all the warmer. He sort of felt awkward being there when he find out Kohari got pregnant. Maybe they wouldn't want him around when they had a real child. But nevertheless they were always so sweet to him, always inviting him over for dinner, insisting he needed to eat more, playing board games and having movie night. Iruka...was his brother, it was the best way to describe their relationship. Orochimaru's parents were never home, they hadn't been home in years. Kohari and Ikkaku didn't know that, but they didn't need to. The bills were paid, and he got money in an envelope every month and that was all that mattered. He had told Kohari and Ikkaku that he had a cranky Grandmother who lived with him, and they trusted him. They were the nicest people in the world. Sometimes Orochimaru wishes that he were Iruka, so young, so fresh, such a nice family. Orochimaru held the warm little baby close, "Time to eat baby Ru." He cooed and took him downstairs.

The door opened and Ikkaku stepped inside, "Hello MaruMaru!" Ikkaku said happiness oozing in his voice as he greeted the teen with a smile. Orochimaru hoped that Iruka got Ikkaku's smile. Kohari's smile was shy and unassuming while Ikkaku's smile could light up a whole room, it's the only reason he got away with calling him MaruMaru. Orochimaru wishes he remembered what his own smile looked like. "Your eyeliner looks good today, you've gotten better!"

"Kohari's lessons paid off." Orochimaru replied, sitting at the dining table. Kohari had been giving him makeup lessons. She was quite good, she recognized that Orochimaru's makeup style was a lot more goth and showy than her natural look was. So she watched videos and adjusted, mastering it so should could teach Orochimaru to get it just right. He still owned the expensive makeup she bought him for Christmas. Iruka wiggled his little body forward and began sucking on Orochimaru's finger in demand of some food!

"It's in the flick of the wrist baby!" Kohari said in a playful voice, mimicking putting eyeliner on. She giggled before kissing her husband in greeting. "Do you think you could get a bottle together for-"

"Already on it," Ikkaku said and began to warm up a bottle of his wife's breast milk. The feeding on the nipple thing didn't work for Kohari, it was painful and Iruka didn't really take to it so she became a pumper. "Orochimaru, do you need help with any homework?"

"No sir." Orochimaru responded, he was an actual genius and working through his second degree but Ikkaku didn't know that and he offered every time. 

"Want to play video games tonight?" Ikkaku said with a wicked smile. 

"Yes," Orochimaru agreed. Ikkaku was pretty decent at video games. Orochimaru was amazing but he pretended to be; he liked it when Ikkaku took the time to teach him how to be better. 

"Never give up!" he would say, "Keep trying!" You got this MaruMaru!" "Look you're already doing better!" And then he would flash that smile. Yes, Orochimaru liked playing video games with Ikkaku.

"Here," Ikkaku handed him the bottle and patted them both gently on the heads, "my boys, you guys are too cute! I love you both."

“I love you too.” Orochimaru whispered, “All of you.” He wanted to stay in this moment forever. He promised to himself that he would hold onto this for as long as possible.

******************************************************************************************

Iruka woke up with fuzzy feelings in his head. Learning of Raido’s absence, was...still shocking and made him angry. That on top of the fact that Asuma was a part of a unit was a huge emotional wasteland he didn't want to dive into. He never once invited Iruka to join! Was Kazuma a part of his unit? Did their Father know? The last thought made his stomach physically lurch. He decided to work from home today. He texted Shikamaru about his decision. He didn’t have any meetings today so it should be fine, and he brought most of his paperwork home with him. He would focus on that later, right now he needed to see the documents he took pictures of yesterday. He connected his phone with his laptop and pulled the evidence up.

Excerpt

“Raido was sent to review a possible location for Orochimaru’s lab, (location included). He has not returned, his tracker, phone, and other devices were left at the scene, a note was also included. A copy of the note has been included in the file, please destroy it after reading it. Due to the circumstances of the note, we have reason to believe that Raido is alive. But for how long? It is important we rescue him as soon as possible. However, looking at the bigger picture, we cannot jeopardize our chance to finally arrest Orochimaru and put him in jail with full charges.

All units are to stay on standby until further notice.

Keep a close eye on Unit X. Iruka Umino has connections with Orochimaru, and he may be part of the reason Orochimaru has returned.”

Iruka’s heart was beating fast, “Unit X?” What the fuck, he looked at the other file. They know about Iruka’s Unit. They know about them. He looked at some paperwork marked with an earlier date.

Excerpt

“Izumo from Unit X has come forward with knowledge of Orochimaru’s return to Konoha. For us this means...”

Izumo ratted them out?! Was Kotetsu in on it too?! How could they do this without discussing it with him? Who was the leader of this organization? He flipped through the other pages looking for information. He finally found something; it was small but it contained Asuma’s unit number and his members: Asuma, Shikamaru, Ino (in training), Choji (in training), form one unit. He was a little nervous when he realized that teenagers were involved but he felt relieved that Kazuma wasn’t a part of the unit. Kazuma might still know something but at least his brothers weren’t a part of a family unit behind his back.

Iruka still needed more information, he had to go back into Asuma's desk. He would normally call Izumo and they'd create a plan to make a copy of the key but...he couldn’t quite trust Izumo anymore. He flipped through the pages for more information...Apparently he had a tracker planted on him, he knew Izumo, he knew the tracker was in his cellphone. The only question was...who had his coordinates at all times. He sort of believed that it was Shikaku, but the man can’t possibly be mayor and still planning “missions” all the time. No, it had to be someone else, he just couldn’t figure out who.

Iruka took a deep breath;he was alone. Logically he couldn’t go into Asuma’s desk again, he couldn’t risk it. He realized that he was hyperventilating. He curled up into himself and began crying. Shit, he was breaking down. He could feel his body shaking, but he couldn’t stop shaking. He was panicking. He heard his phone ringing, he ignored it, and then it rang again. He answered it without looking. He didn’t speak, he just sat there.

“I-Iruka?” he heard a familiar voice.

“N-naruto?” Iruka asked.

“Iruka, are you crying?” Naruto asked, concerned.

“No,” Iruka wiped his tears, and he felt his heart relax, he was slowly calming down. 

“It sounds like you’re crying!” Naruto accused.

Iruka laughed, “Are you calling me a liar?”

Naruto began to laugh too, “I’m not calling you a truther!” they giggled together, “But seriously are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Iruka said, wiping his tears; a little laughter and he immediately felt better, “just overwhelmed with work. I miss you.” He was still laying down because he didn’t feel like moving, but it didn’t feel like the world was breaking anymore.

“I’m actually coming home early!” Naruto exclaimed, “I called to let you know! Apparently, Jiraiya has some urgent business to attend to. We’re not sure when we’re going to leave yet, but I’ll keep you updated. How are you? Is Asuma overworking you?”

“No, no, no, I’m fine.” Iruka responded, “You just caught me at a bad time. I’m excited to see you soon. Are you being good for Jiraiya?”

“Iruka, I’m fifteen! I’ve been doing this for three years now!” Naruto huffed, and Iruka chuckled a bit. “Let me tell you though-” 

Iruka was pleased when Naruto began to tell a few stories, he was long winded and Iruka only had to respond sometimes. His little brother's excited voice as he told humorous stories was making him happy. So he continued to listen for another two hours until Naruto had to go, and they said their goodbye and I love yous before hanging up. A few minutes later he heard a knock on his door, he answered it and Sasuke walked inside his apartment, holding ramen in a takeout bag.

“Sasuke,” Iruka identified him as he brushed past, “what are you doing here?”

“I’m hanging out here today,” Sasuke said, “I bought you ramen for lunch, Naruto said you probably didn’t eat today, and it’s noon. Have you showered? I can make a cold compress for your eyes if they’re too puffy,” he held Iruka’s face in his hands and looked at his eyes. “I’ll prepare a cold compress.” He decided, “Go take a shower and put on some clothes, I’ll keep your ramen warm.”

“Sasuke,” Iruka tried.

“Go,” Sasuke demanded.

Iruka took a big sigh, he didn’t want to argue with a child. Although, he didn’t necessarily want to take orders from a child either but...oh well. He took a quick shower and put on some fresh clothes. He went to the kitchen where Sasuke was taking the ramen out of a pot. He was now putting the ramen in a pretty bowl and was arranging everything perfectly.

“Whose bowl is that?” Iruka asked. It looked like hand-crafted China, and it was too nice to be eating off of. He definitely didn't own it.

“It’s from my place,” Sasuke responded and presented it to Iruka. Iruka stared at the set up for a moment before sitting down, why was Sasuke taking his time to make everything look perfect? They had hung out at Sasuke and Itachi's expensive penthouse quite a few times; for some reason everyone was way more comfortable in Naruto and Iruka's small two bedroom apartment. Such nice things sort of looked out of place in the apartment.

He had just picked up his chopsticks when Sasuke spoke again, “Want to watch a movie together? I also brought snacks.” He awkwardly moved to where Iruka was sitting, put his arms around him and squeezed. It was a little too tight but Iruka returned the hug anyway.

“Sasuke, I know that you and Naruto are dating but-”

“Hey!” Sasuke blushed, “W-we aren’t?”

“Really?” Iruka asked surprised, “I just assumed-”

“N-no,” Sasuke corrected him then, blushing, “I’m here because...I like...you’re like...a part of my fam...Naruto said you were sad and that made me sad so…” Iruka was speechless, he’s never seen Sasuke this flustered before, “want a hug?”

Iruka pulled Sasuke in for a proper hug this time, it was a long one, Sasuke even let Iruka play with his hair a bit before letting go. “I’m going to go pick a movie!” He rushed off and Iruka enjoyed his ramen, honestly, it was hitting the spot. Delicious, ramen from Ichiraku's always made him feel better. Sasuke joined him in the kitchen later and began to prepare adorable little healthy snacks for them. Celery with peanut, raisins, and pretzels designed to look like a little of some sort bug. Green apples and grapes made to look like turtles. Apples then sliced up with peanut butter and chocolate chips put on top of it to make it look like chocolate chip cookies. After Sasuke got over his embarrassment, they began to talk normally about various subjects. School, work, and so on. Sasuke never asked what was wrong, but he was still there for Iruka regardless. Iruka washed the bowl while Sasuke finished preparing the snacks. They went to the couch and Sasuke put on one of Iruka and Naruto’s favorite movies, Iruka noticed that little detail and couldn’t help but smile at Sasuke’s cuteness. His heart was warmed by Sasuke’s kindness. It was an action comedy, a funny samurai hero movie. Halfway through the movie there was a knock at the door. Iruka answered it and was surprised to see Shikamaru.

“Hey,” Iruka greeted him.

“Don’t hey me,” Shikamaru said as he entered the apartment. “You texted me that you weren’t coming into work today, and then you didn’t answer a single one of my texts for the rest of the day. It’s bothersome to have to come,” he made eye contact with Sasuke and faltered for half a second. “Down here.”

“Hey,” Sasuke said as he paused the movie, “I was going through something and came over. He’s been spending all day with me.”

Shikamaru and Sasuke didn’t really like each other. They never really vibed. Part of the reason was that when they were twelve Sasuke made a bit of a scene after he found out his brother Itachi was still alive. He ran away from home and was missing for a week. Everyone came to Sasuke’s aid with sympathy. Shikamaru found the whole thing to be rather ridiculous and dramatic. Still, when his friends asked for his help, he (and Naruto) led the search to find him. Sasuke went away to a therapy retreat with Itachi, and when Sasuke came back he never thanked any of his friends for their help in finding him. Something that really pissed Shikamaru off, and he wasn’t pissed off easily. Iruka also thinks that there is some applied pressure because Shikamaru was a genius, just like Itachi. Sasuke tried to follow in Itachi’s footsteps, and while he was above average he wasn’t quite at their level. Shikamaru was in college at the age of fifteen (now sixteen); Itachi had also been in college when he was that age. Sasuke was smart, but he hadn't skipped any grades; he was on track to graduate on time and not early.

“I didn't mean to interupt,” Shikamaru responded, “let me just fill Iruka in really quickly and then I’ll leave.”

“You can stay if you want to,” Sasuke said.

Shikamaru looked at Iruka for a moment, and stared, “Yes, of course, you can stay.” Iruka agreed. Shikamaru ran through the things Iruka needed to do by the end of the week and then sat down on the couch next to Sasuke; in the corner farthest away from Iruka. Sasuke pressed play again and they all turned their attention to the movie. Iruka was surprised to see Shikamaru make the effort to small talk with Sasuke, Sasuke was answering in kind and kept up the conversation whenever it lapsed.

It was strange to see the two boys chatting, but it was honestly pretty sweet. Maybe they could be friends one day. Iruka grabbed his laptop from his bedroom and began ignoring the movie as he focused on his work. Hours passed, and the movie ended, now Sasuke and Shikamaru were actively having a conversation.

“Hey, Iruka, it’s about dinner time, do you want to go get something to eat?” Sasuke asked. “Shikamaru and I were thinking about heading to this restaurant downtown.”

“Oh, why don't the two of you go then?” Iruka responded. “I have some work here to do.”

“You should come,” Shikamaru said. “You can leave your wallet, I’ll pay for us.”

“Yeah we want you to come,” Sasuke agreed.

Iruka wasn’t sure if this was like some sort of weird date or not, “No, it’s fine. I’ll stay here.” Maybe they needed a third person, so they wouldn’t feel so awkward. 

“Come on, I want to treat you,” Shikamaru insisted. 

“Yeah come on,” Sasuke agreed.

“Alright,” Iruka gave in. “but it’s my treat.”

“No way,” Shikamaru responded, “you always buy me lunch. I got it. Sasuke I got you too.”

“Thank you Shikamaru,” Sasuke said, “for...a lot of things.”

Shikamaru gave a rare smile, “Yeah, it’s alright man.” 

They went out to eat; Iruka drove them in their car, all three volunteered to pay. Shikamaru won because he snuck to the “bathroom” and wound up paying before the others could even think to do that. It was a nice meal actually, however unexpected it was. The food was good and the conversation between the three flowed easily. Smiles and even a few laughs even made themselves known through the night. 

Iruka drove Shikamaru home afterward and brought Sasuke back to their apartment building.

“Hey, can I spend the night?” Sasuke asked, standing outside the door to Iruka's apartment.

Iruka looked at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, as he opened the door, “Are you and Itachi going through something?” he asked as he let Sasuke in.

Sasuke shook his head no, and it seemed honest. “We’re fine,” he responded, “just don’t want you to be alone if you’re sad.”

Iruka smiled at the kind words, “I’m fine Sasuke, I just got overwhelmed.”

Sasuke shook his head, “Naruto says I should take care of you.”

“Thank you, but I’m an adult; I can take care of myself.” Iruka said, “However, I wouldn’t mind some company. You can sleep in Naruto’s room.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Sasuke agreed happily. “Shikamaru says he’s doing summer school in order to graduate early. I should have considered doing that with high school huh?”

“Nah,” Iruka disagreed, “don’t rush life Sasuke. It’ll pass you by, before you know it.” Sasuke went to his apartment first to grab some things before coming back down. He brought a guest, his brother Itachi, and a blow up mattress. The boys blew up the mattress in Iruka’s room, and the three of them fell asleep together. Sasuke on Iruka’s bed next to Iruka; he insisted the blow up mattress was too small. Itachi slept alone on the blow up bed. Iruka was actually comforted that he wasn’t alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke made everyone breakfast in the morning, Itachi went his way, and Sasuke went to work with Iruka.

“It’s going to be boring,” Iruka warned him.

“Better than staying at home all the time.” Sasuke countered. 

“You could have gone to work with Itachi.” Iruka pointed out. "You're supposed to be learning how to run the company."

“That’s worse than boring.” Sasuke countered, “I’ll just spend time with Shikamaru while you work.”

“Shikamaru is busy, he has a job and he goes to school.” Iruka reminded him.

“I won’t bother him,” Sasuke promised. Iruka was fairly sure this was a ploy Naruto had set Sasuke up to, in order to watch him. He knows Naruto hates it when he is sad but this is getting extreme.

“Alright, Sasuke.” Iruka allowed it. “Hey Shikamaru, Sasuke’s here. He wants to hang out with you."

“Cool,” Shikamaru said. “You’re my intern now.”

Iruka start to object, “Shikamaru-” 

“I’ll allow it,” Sasuke decided, cutting Iruka off.

“Go get yourself a chair,” Shikamaru ordered.

Iruka shook his head at the two and decided to let them be as he entered his office.

"Hello Iruka," Kakashi cheesed through his mask, he was sitting in Iruka’s chair with his feet on the man's desk.

Iruka looked a little stunned that the man was actually here. "W-what are you doing here?" Iruka asked, rubbing his scar and he moved to put his work on his desk.

Kakashi looked comfortable as he took up Iruka's office space, "I have that meeting with Asuma today, remember?" 

"It's noon, your meeting starts at 3pm." Iruka said, Shikamaru had told him about it yesterday and added it to his virtual calender.

"Does it?" Kakashi said, putting on a clueless expression which he somehow achieved even with his mask on. "I guess I'm early then."

"Huh?" Iruka asked, "Aren't you known for being late?"

"Maaa sensei, I would never be late when I have a lunch date with you." Kakashi countered.

"Lunch date?" Iruka asked, and then suddenly his office door swung open and his assistant walked in.

"Oi, Iruka-sensei, your lunch meeting is here." Shikamaru drawled boringly as he opened the door.

Iruka couldn't help it, he glared at the teen, "Shikamaru-"

"He paid me two hundred dollars personally in order to ensure the appointment," Shikamaru told him blankly, "easy money."

"Shikamaru!" Iruka yelled, the teen had sold him out!

"Later." The teen replied and shut the door behind him with a finality beyond his years.

Iruka rubbed his forehead frustratedly, that explained why Shikamaru was so keen to pay for dinner yesterday, it was a guilt dinner!

"Where should we go for lunch?" Kakashi chimed in happily, "I believe your schedule says that you have a lunch meeting from 12:15 to 3:00pm."

Iruka checked his schedule through his phone. He saw the reminder and remebered seeing it appear on his schedule two days ago. Every time he had asked Shikamaru about it the teen had disappeared, he had chalked it up to an error. However, now his lunch meeting was here in front of him. "Kakashi, is this an actual meeting?" he asked.

Kakashi eye smiled at him, "Would you like it to be a date?"

Iruka wanted to stab him, "Let's just go," Iruka stood up and strode to his closet to grab a suit jacket. He was wearing grey dress pants and a navy blue button up, the grey suit jacket made the outfit fancier, "I believe my schedule says there is a reservation planned." 

"Wonderful." Kakashi looked pale and stunning in his all-black suit, with his fabric mask on, "I'll drive."

They walked together in silence through the office and to the garage to get to Kakashi's car. Iruka wasn't even sure what he was looking at, it was black and sleek, and shiny, and sexy, and utterly perfect. "Is this the batmobile?" he asked.

"No, but it is a custom creation, there is nothing else like it in the world." Kakashi bragged excitedly. "Do you like it? I actually don't really drive it but I wanted to drive you around in it today."

"It's a beautiful car," Iruka said fondly, because for a moment there it felt nice to be thought of. But then he remembered the situation, he had no idea what Kakashi was doing, or even why he left his office to get lunch with this man. He could have cancelled but-

"Stop overthinking and get in the car, handsome." Kakashi opened the butterfly door for him and gestured to the seat.

Iruka couldn't find a way to protest as he got in the car. Kakashi closed the door behind him and got in on the other side. Something about the way Kakashi drove was sexy, Iruka briefly wondered if or when they would have sex again. He rarely sleeps with the same person twice let alone three times. He had sex four times last year, all of them unsatisfying but did the job for that moment. They were all women, he had forgotten how fuckin fantastic sex with a man was. He had one sexual incident last year a week after a certain funeral that he didn't quite like to think of.

"What are you thinking about?" Kakashi asked, "You're so quiet."

"Nothing," Iruka dismissed, "I'm guessing you chose the restaurant as well."

"I heard it's a great place to take someone special." Kakashi replied and before Iruka could shut that down Kakashi was speaking again. "I had a long phone call with Jiraiya the other day, and he recommended the spot. Konoha has changed so much in a year."

"It has." Iruka agreed solemnly. 

"Last time I saw you was at the funeral. I overheard you talking to Naruto, you said the most beautiful-"

"Can we talk about something else?" Iruka snapped, the words came out way more harshly than intended. "S-sorr-"

"No," Kakashi waved it off, "I don't know what I was thinking, I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine," Iruka countered somberly, "it's all anyone wants to talk about anyway."

"Hmmm," Kakashi hummed, "I can't imagine. My...My dad died in shame. Hardly anyone brings him up to me. Your...Hiruzen was the only one who talked about my Dad to me."

"That sounds like him." Iruka said softly and slouched back into his seat. Kakashi was throwing him off, he couldn't read the man at all. It was confusing.

Kakashi thought that he was getting a grasp on what was going on with Iruka. The man was depressed, his Father had died last year and he didn't grieve properly. He dove straight into work and now he's closed off and unhappy. He wasn't a social person but he was somehow able to read Iruka like a book. Maybe it's because he cared so much.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they pulled up to the restaurant. Kakashi and Iruka exited the car, and Kakashi gave the cars to the valet who had the biggest smile on his face. The young man was clearly excited to drive the expensive car. To his surprise he heard Iruka chuckle slightly at the young man's reaction; it was endearing, it didn't quite reach his eyes but it was cute. He wanted to see Iruka smile again, a real smile, like when they were kids. In fact, he decided to make it his goal.

Without even saying anything the waitress beckoned for them and seated them in a private room, the food, a huge sushi platter, was already prepared and it looked beautiful. "Ring the bell outside the door if you need anything. Sake and water are on the cart to the left, along with napkins, utensils, and any extra sauce. Other than ringing the bell, the two of you will have your privacy."

"Thank you." Iruka gave her a fake smile, and Kakashi gave her a little nod. Iruka sat down, and Kakashi poured sake for both of them. He moved his chair so he was next to Iruka instead of across from him. "This looks delicious." Iruka eyed the food with wide eyes. He had more expression in his eyes than the light chuckle and forced smile from earlier. Food would be the way into Iruka's heart. He watched Iruka try a piece of sashimi and nearly moaned at the sensation. "It's delicious." And there it was the truest smile Iruka had given Kakashi since their re-acquaintance. It wasn't quite right, it wasn't full enough, and most importantly Kakashi hadn't caused it. Iruka ate sushi roll after sushi roll and suddenly remembered his guest.

"Oh shoot, sorry Kakashi I was distracted!" he admitted, "I can't remember the last time I had sushi!"

"Really?" Kakashi asked, surprised, "Do you work out Iruka?"

The question seemed to catch him by surprise, "Not since I’ve been swamped with work." he answered after thinking a moment, "When I was a teacher I would run a mile around the track, every day after work. I also used to do weight lifting with Gai on occassion. Now, I just don’t have the time."

"And when do you hang out with your friends?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka blinked, another question that threw him off, "Ah...I guess I don't really hang out with my friends much anymore. I work with some of my friends, if that counts."

"You really are busy,” Kakashi observed, “So busy you sometimes forget to eat?" It was more of an accusation than a question.

Iruka placed his chopsticks down and stared Kakashi down, "What are you trying to say?" he asked carefully. He just couldn’t figure out where the line of questioning was coming from.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Kakashi brushed it off and pulled his mask down. He finally began eating.

Iruka huffed but began to eat again, food not tasting as good now that his company had soured. "Look sometimes I forget to eat, but I am taking care of myself, okay?" Goodness gracious was the whole world looking out for his well being?

"Of course." Kakashi agreed, "I was just thinking maybe I can stop by work to bring you lunch every now and then."

Iruka sighed, he couldn't understand the other man at all but it did get him to relax. He enjoyed the sushi once again. Taking a large piece of sashimi into his mouth. "You're going to be around for a while?" he asked, wondering when the man would return overseas.

"I am." Kakashi agreed, "I have trusted individuals in my overseas branches now, and I don't anticipate any problems."

Iruka hummed, "That's good. Excited to be back in Konoha?"

"I am," Kakashi replied, "Itachi recently took me on as a business mentor of sorts. He’s a good kid, I’m glad he reached out. Some of his business partners are keen on stealing the business from under his feet. We are coming up with a plan to stop that from happening."

The information was new to him but Iruka gave a soft smile anyway, "Sasuke and Itachi are such great boys."

"They live with you don't they?" Kakashi asked.

"No, we live in the same apartment building." Iruka corrected, "you know the history yeah?”

“I’ve heard a few things,” Kakashi said.

Iruka thought for a moment, “I don’t know if I should tell, but at the same time it’s not exactly a secret.” He settled his mind and came to a conclusion, “Just in case, it comes in handy, I’ll tell you. Itachi and Sasuke are both sweet boys but are also sort of emotionally dense. If you ever noticed anything wrong tell me immediately." He warned before continuing, "Alright here it goes, Itachi finally got free from his foster family at the age of eighteen. I think they were associated with Itachi’s company. Anyway, they liked how smart he was and wanted to use him for his brain. They also wanted access to his company. They threatened him saying that if he ever disobeyed them, he would never be able to see Sasuke again. So when he was eighteen, and finally free, he found Sasuke, who was twelve at the time. Sasuke was living with an elderly woman, who used to be a maid for the family. Very nice lady, she lives in a luxury retirement home now. Sasuke who thought his brother was dead was even more hurt by the thought that his brother had abandoned him. They managed to work it out, and have been living together for three years now. Very good boys, I love them both. They come over to my place often, more often when Naruto is here, but Sasuke surprised me by coming over yesterday.”

"You're an amazing person, Iruka-chan!" Kakashi cooed and Iruka tightened his fist, digging his nails in his skin to keep himself from hitting the man.

"Do not call me that." Iruka said firmly, "Why did you schedule this lunch meeting for so long?"

"I thought we could have a quicky before I meet Asuma for that meeting," Kakashi said honestly.

Iruka couldn't help but give a slight shiver of anticipation, he looked down at his watch. "Anything over fifteen minutes is not a quicky," Iruka pointed out, "We have nearly two hours left."

"True." Kakashi agreed. "Then perhaps you wouldn't mind taking a bit longer."

Iruka was getting aroused by the way Kakashi was staring him down, the man was so hot. "Where would we be having this sexual encounter?" Iruka asked, keeping his cool.

"Here," Kakashi gestured to the table, "once you're done eating of course."

"Are you insane?" Iruka asked, "We can't have sex here!"

"It's a private room, and the waitress promised our absolute privacy."

"I refuse." Iruka responded, "Besides I'm too loud."

"Jiraiya requested this place for a reason you know." Kakashi winked at Iruka.

Iruka put a piece of sushi in his mouth as he considered it, "Do you umm, do you have a condom?"

Kakashi gave an outright frown, "I do, yes." he responded truthfully.

"Well maybe if you use a condom. That way I can return to work afterward: without having to do an awkward clean up in the bathroom."

Kakashi chuckled, “So clinical.” Iruka decided not to snap back at the comment, he carefully moved the food to the cart that the waitress was using earlier before he pulled his pants and boxers off.

“Lube,” he demanded.

“Yeah,” Kakashi handed him some from his pocket, he also pulled his bottoms off. Iruka lubed up his fingers and bent over the now cleaned off table. He reached his hand back and slipped in a finger in his ass. His other arm was in front of his mouth and he bit down. “Shit that’s hot let me help you.” Kakashi grabbed some lube and wet up his hands. He slipped his finger in alongside Iruka's, and they worked together to thrust them in. Iruka moaned at the sensation, fuck he wanted dick so badly. Iruka slipped in a second finger, legs nearly shaking in pleasure. 

He stood up for a second, “Condom.” he reminded Kakashi.

“Yeah,” Kakashi slipped a condom onto his own dick then got behind Iruka and slipped a condom on for him. 

“Aww thanks,” Iruka said, for some reason he thought the gesture was really sweet. He moved to lean over the table again, when Kakashi casually picked him up and placed him on the table, flipped him on his back. Iruka’s dick twitched.

Kakashi’s eyes caught the movement, “You like being manhandled don’t you?”

“Put it in already,” Iruka spread his legs wider. “I’m ready.”

Kakashi lined himself up and pushed in, Iruka bit his bottom lip muffling his scream of pleasure. He began to move on his own accord, thrusting himself up and down on Kakashi’s dick. It just felt so wonderful, he nearly wanted to sob with joy. This was what he fuckin need, some good hard dick. “Oh shit, oh shit!” he moaned, it just slipped out.

“Oh fuck,” Kakashi said barely keeping it together, “I’m not even doing anything, you’re just getting yourself off.”

Iruka moved his arm to cover his mouth again, trying not to moan too loudly. Kakashi grabbed his legs and began to rut into him, fast and unrelenting, it felt, fuck, it felt fantastic. He gripped the table clothes and hooked one leg behind Kakashi’s back, pulling him in deeper and deeper with each thrust. Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s hips and angled them, he ground his hips down into Iruka and the movement felt delicious, especially at the new angle, it was hitting all the spots, one spot, in particular, that was driving him mad. Kakashi stopped thrusting and grinding down making sure to hit that spot repeatedly, taking pleasure in the fact that Iruka was feeling good. The younger man had tears in his eyes, he hitched a foot over Kakashi’s shoulder. He very carefully rolled off the table and put his hands on the flat on the ground, he then brought his legs down to lay flat on the table.

“Holy shit,” Kakashi groaned, he placed his hands on the table close to Iruka’s knees and began to build up a rhythm again. Thrusting in and out, claiming Iruka for his own as his balls slapped his ass. The angle was fantastic, Iruka was hollering in pleasure, and Kakashi went as deep and as rough as he wanted. Iruka came first, Kakashi holding onto him so he didn’t fall and lose the position. He helped Iruka up and sat on the table holding Iruka in his arms. Iruka caught his breath and then began to ride him bouncing up and down, his feet flat on the table, his hands gripping Kakashi’s shoulders. It didn’t take long for Kakashi to cum, his condom stopping his release from slipping inside of Iruka. 

“Fuck,” Iruka breathed, “we’re doing that again.” 

“Hell yeah,” Kakashi agreed. They took their condoms off and threw them in the trash can. Iruka sat with his knees on the floor and ate some more sushi, using chopsticks and not his filthy hands. Kakashi found the image rather endearing. “If you’re hungry we can have sex at my place later.”

“I want sex now,” Iruka said, “but this sushi is just so fuckin good. You hard yet?”

“Nah, are you?” Kakashi asked. Iruka stood up, and he was indeed, fully hard, and still chewing.

“Why don’t you put that mouth to work until you can fuck me again?” Iruka teased.

Kakashi shook his head just a little, “Normally I would but I’m sorry, dick and sushi aren’t a good mix,” Kakashi emphasized this by also grabbing a pair of chopsticks and putting some sushi into his mouth. “I mean the sushi is good.”

“I respect it.” Iruka agreed, he one handed ate with his chopsticks while the other was stroking Kakashi’s length to complete hardness. 

“I’m there.” Kakashi moaned out, “Let’s do this.”

“Yeah hold on,” Iruka stood up, “let’s get naked, we’re both sweating a lot.”

“Sounds good.” As soon as Iruka was naked, Kakashi was sliding his dick inside of him. 

“Condom.”

“Shit I forget,” Kakashi pulled out, “sorry!” He put another condom one, and grabbed another for Iruka rolling it onto his partner's dick. Iruka still found the gesture to be a bit romantic. Kakashi pulled his leg up and entered in, they were standing up. Iruka grabs onto the table and spreads his legs, Kakashi grips his hips and begins to thrust in, moving slowly. This would probably be their last round before they had to go. He wanted to make the most of it, Iruka’s breath hitched with each long drag on Kakashi’s dick against his insides.

“You’re playing games.” Iruka breathed, a smile in his voice because the movement felt good, even if he wanted more. He got on top of the table again and spread out, Kakashi slid his dick between Iruka’s ass cheeks loving the image of it. It was freakin hot, he moved back and then moved forward this time sliding it in. He parted Iruka’s cheeks, loving the feel of Iruka’s soft ass in his hands. He was still being shallow, and had no real rhythm, he was just enjoying the view. “Alright! Stop teasing me!” Iruka huffed, he had enough.

Kakashi knew when to stop playing games, so he began to fuck Iruka like he meant it. Dick moving deep inside, balls slapping his ass, as obscene noses filled the rooms. Iruka’s muffled moans were still loud enough to hear. Iruka’s entrance was still so tight, and it was their second round. It felt amazing, being inside of Iruka like this. He really liked this man. He pulled one of Iruka’s legs up and moved in deeper, taking complete control of both their pleasure. Kakashi was getting off, he felt himself bringing Iruka closer to the edge. Watching his back tremble, his legs slightly shake, the intake of breath, and the breathy moans; he was going to finish soon. Everything in this moment was perfect. Just the two of them; as much as Kakashi wanted to stay here he knew he was leading both of them closer to the edge...and he wanted to, but he was definitely going to make this last. He slowed down a bit, and Iruka breathed out, almost a sigh of relief. Neither of them were ready for this to be over.

“Let me top,” Iruka spoke up.

“Yeah,” they moved positions, Kakashi was laying on the table and Iruka got on top of him. He lined Kakashi up and sank down on his dick loving the feeling. He moved up and down, hands on his knees, completely immersed in the sensation. Being filled by a dick, being dicked down in the most satisfying way. He pulled his condom off and grabbed onto his dick. “I’m gonna cum on you.”

“Yeah, do it.” Kakashi breathed out, he bucked his hips up meeting Iruka every time he sank down. Iruka’s ass hitting his legs held a different sound than before. Something about this was so much more intimate than their first round. This time it was special, the first time was about getting off, this time they were connecting, learning each other, neither of them wanted it to end, but here they go. Iruka spilled first, his cum shooting out and getting all over Kakashi, some even reaching his face. It was the look of ecstasy and the splash of seamen that got Kakashi off, he came into the condom with a loud grunt. They were both breathing deeply. Iruka got off the table first, he took off Kakashi’s condom and tossed it in the trash along with his own. They put on their clothes on, without speaking. They went to the bathroom to clean up a bit. When they came back a few waitresses were in the room, one was putting the table cloth in the trash. Another had packed up the sushi which was now handed to Kakashi, in her other hand was some air freshener.

“You went over your time limit,” she said, “you have to pay extra.”

“Of course,” Kakashi agreed.

Iruka checked his watch, “Shit we’re late.”

“Are we?” Kakashi asked.

“Yeah, we got to go,” Iruka said, they had been having sex for a long time. Time flies when you’re having fun.

“Hey guys, here is some sushi.” he handed it to Sasuke and Shikamaru. They looked at Iruka, turned to each other, and then looked at Iruka again and gave him funny looks.

“What?” Iruka asked, suddenly wondering if he had cum anywhere on him but he refused to look down and look suspicious. 

“How was your lunch?” Shikamaru asked after a moment of silence.

“It was great,” Iruka said simply, still wondering what the boys were thinking. 

Sasuke huffed and responded bluntly, “You had sex with Kakashi.”

“W-what?” Iruka asked, blushing, did he have cum on his suit? He tried not to but he gave in, but he did finally looking down; he didn’t see anything on his clothes.

“It’s obvious,” Shikamaru agreed with the accusation, “you’re all glowy, your hair is a mess, your suit is wrinkled, and you have a sweaty sheen to you.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke agreed with the assessment, “go take a shower, and change your suit.”

Iruka just blushed but he went back to the elevator and went upstairs to the private loft. None of them stayed there but Iruka and his family had private access to it. You could enter the hallway from the elevator but the loft itself had a keycode. They barely used it, sometimes to take naps, mostly to shower and freshen up, and they all had a horde of suits there. Iruka showered and changed his suit, he fixed up his hair before coming back down. He barely made eye contact with Shikamaru and Sasuke as he entered his office. He just went straight to work until it was time to go. Sasuke was pretty silent in the car as they drove back to the apartment together.

“I won’t tell Naruto, that you had sex with Kakashi.” he decided as Iruka parked, he hit the brakes too hard at the statement and their bodies lurched forward a bit.

“Ah thank you,” Iruka said awkwardly and finished parking. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sasuke said, “Don’t leave for work without me.”

“Got it.” Iruka promised and he went upstairs. He got a phone call which he answered without looking. “Hello?” Iruka asked.

“Hey it’s me Kakashi,” the silver-haired man said, his voice sounded weird, “do you want to...umm would you like to get dinner and a movie sometime soon, maybe on Friday?”

Iruka sighed, he knew he was getting close to Kakashi, he just wasn’t sure he wanted to. If he was being honest the sex was good, he just wasn’t sure if he had time for anything else. The conversation had lapsed into silence.

“Iruka?” Kakashi asked disappointment was clear in his voice.

“Sorry um,” Iruka just went with his gut, “yeah sure, sounds fun.”

“R-really?” Kakashi asked.

“Yeah,” Iruka said, “I’ll see you then.”

“See you,” Kakashi responded.

*************************************************************************

“You’ve been ignoring my calls,” Izumo said as he entered Iruka’s apartment, Kotetsu in tow.

That’s because you literally put a tracker on me and you’re reporting my actions to someone I don’t know. Iruka thought.

“We have some information,” Kotetsu responded, “I snuck into Genma's apartment and took pictures of some files I found, they tried to hide them..”

Kotetsu are you in on it with Izumo. If you are you know that I’m a 'liability because of my ‘relationship with Orochimaru’ you’re either going to give me bad information or half-truths. Iruka thought frustratedly.

“I have a lot on my plate right now,” Iruka said, “I’m not sure if we should do this case.”

“What?” Kotetsu yelled passionately, “Raido needs us! This is the kind of stuff we do. We help people, and Raido is our friend! He needs us!”

Izumo spoke up as well, “Yeah, what are you talking about? We have to save him, Genma is a mess.”

Iruka nodded his head, “You’re right sorry, I lost sight of the goal.” he apologized, they might have some useful information.

“Is there a reason you don’t want to do this case?” Izumo asked pointedly.

“No,” Iruka responded, I got you, I know what you’re hinting at. Who have you been reporting me to? “Let me hear what you have?”

“Got it,” Kotetsu pulled up the pictures on his laptop, “it looks like Raido disappeared because he was looking into finding Orochimaru’s location.”

“Seriously?” Izumo asked, “why would he be doing that?”

Iruka wanted to roll his eyes but he controlled himself. Kotetsu on the other hand had something to say, “I don’t know. It’s freakin weird! The more I look at his research the more I’m convinced...I think there are other units out there. I think Genma and Raido are a part of one.”

“Seriously?” Iruka asked surprise filling his voice, he was putting on a show because he had to, “You think that we were right? There are really other units out there?”

“There has to be,” Kotetsu pointed out, “We’ve suspected this for years. We might finally have proof. What? Do you think Raido was researching Orochimaru for fun? There has to be a reason, and I think we found it.”

“We can ask when we find him,” Izumo responded.

“What? You’re not interested?” Kotetsu asked him, looking a bit offended.

It was enough, Kotetsu wasn’t in on it with Izumo. They rarely did anything differently, but Kotetsu was a shitty liar and a worse actor, he was being genuine. He didn’t know about the other units. Kotetsu was innocent.

“We should focus on finding Raido before we delve into this.” Iruka agreed, “if there are other units I want to know about it. Maybe we could...work together?” He paid careful attention to Izumo who seemed a bit pleased with his words but he hid it well.

“I found a map of possible hideouts, in his apartment,” Kotetsu went on, “the one he circled multiple times must be the one he went to. He also has others crossed out, it’s likely this is where he disappeared. I hacked into the police network and got the full report. Raido’s things were found at this location along with this note,

‘I’m only here to get what is fully mine, get in my way and you will regret it. Raido will remain alive but for how long? I heard that dolphins like to swim in bloody water, want to see if it's true?’”

Iruka felt a chill run down his spine. He knows where to find some information on Orochimaru’s hideout but he doesn’t know whether to tell his friends. For one it was getting really dangerous. For two, Izumo was working for someone else and Iruka had no idea who. He couldn't trust them. He must have reacted in some kind of way because when his thoughts came back to the forefront Izumo was staring at him intently.

“Do you know anything about this?” Izumo asked.

“No, why?” Iruka challenged him.

“Come on, we know Orochimaru tried to get you to join his gang!” Izumo pointed out, “You and Anko.”

“Hey,” Kotetsu came to his defense, “he was eight years old! Iruka was just a kid, we don’t talk about this kind of thing. Obviously, it was traumatic for him!”

“Well, maybe we should!” Izumo asked, “Come on you’re the one who asked us to confirm whether Orochimaru was in town or not. Why? You’re the one who almost decided not to take on this case? Are you hiding something from us?”

“No, I’m not,” Iruka said, although his mind was screaming: THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK! Iruka took deep breaths trying to keep a level head, he didn't want to explode. In, out, in, out. He wasn't going to let Izumo that he knew, not yet.

“I mean you are,” Kotetsu reasoned with both of them, moving to get between them a bit, “but for good reason. Anko is our close friend and she doesn’t talk about her time with Orochimaru either! It was traumatic we understand. Izumo, stop busting his balls.”

“I want to find Raido!” Izumo said, “Do you have any clues or not?” He was being intense, probably because he needed the information for someone else. He needed to report to someone.

“I don’t,” Iruka said. “Get out of my apartment, stop harassing me!”

“Yeah both of you need to cool off,” Kotetsu agreed. “Anyway, we don’t have any other information. We can’t get into Hatake’s building, the security is too tight. If we want to get into Raido’s office we have to try something else, we’ll need a more strategic plan.”

“I checked Anko’s apartment but it was also a bust, and we couldn’t access the FBI security cameras.” Izumo responded, “Should I move forward with my plan to put a camera in her lamp?”

“No, it’s fine,” Iruka said, sedating his anger.

“So what’s our plan of action now?” Izumo asked.

“I have some things to look into, we’ll reconvene at a later date,” Iruka responded. 

“What are you looking into?” Kotetsu asked, “Can we help?”

“It’s more of a solo thing.” Iruka responded, “I’ll let you guys know what information I have when I have it.”

“Alright whatever, be secretive,” Izumo huffed, “Hey did you ever find information from Asuma’s desk?”

“Yeah, is he a part of a unit?” Kotetsu perked up, “Do you think he works with Genma and Raido?” 

“Nah I think Asuma is clean,” Iruka said, “I didn’t find anything.”

Kotetsu blew a raspberry and pulled Iruka in for a hug, “We’ll see you later, don’t take too long. We need a game plan, gotta save Rai!”

“We do need to save Rai.” Izumo agreed and joined the hug, “We trust you bro.” 

Iruka hugged them and then walked them to the door. “I'll see you guys soon.” This is getting dangerous. I’m not putting my friends in harms way. From now on, I'm in this alone.

**************************************************************************************


	4. Chapter 4

It would seem strange for anyone to see Iruka Umino, son of the Konoha police chief (who would later become a successful CEO) hanging around with the notorious Orochimaru. Yet every day after the school day ended, they were always together; hanging out like two peas in a pod.

It started off purely innocent, “You knew my parents?” Iruka asked, he was a small eight year old and his big brown eyes peered up at the man.

“Not only do I know your parents, but I know you,” Orochimaru responded, his heart was melting, he looked just like Ikkaku. “I used to basically live at your house!”

“Really?” Iruka asked with a wide smile, he had Ikkaku's smile, that was all Orochimaru could ask for.

“I have pictures,” Orochimaru responded, “but you have to come with me, my car is just around the corner.”

Iruka hesitated, “I...my Dad-”

“That man is not your Dad!” Orochimaru yelled suddenly.

Iruka flinched, he was getting nervous; he should keep walking home, he never should have taken this shortcut, his Dad specifically told him not to. He was supposed to wait for Asuma to finish practice and then walk home with him “I-I shouldn’t.”

“Your Father sent me to come and talk to you.” Orochimaru quickly lied, “He told me where to find you and everything, that’s why I’m here.”

“Really?” Iruka asked, well if his Dad was okay with it then it was okay, “But he didn’t tell me-”

“It must have slipped his mind,” Orochimaru pointed out, “he’s a busy man, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Iruka reached his hand out and held onto Orochimaru’s. 

Orochimaru took a moment to stare at their hands, the little boy was so trusting. The need to take care of him flared up just as strongly as when he was a baby. “Let’s go. Iruka.”

Iruka was whisked away to a hideout in the middle of the woods. It was like an old warehouse, large and industrial but also empty. and honestly, he loved hanging out with Orochimaru. The man had all sorts of pictures: Pictures of him as a baby, pictures of his parents, pictures of them together; Orochimaru was even in a few photos. The man was also always willing to tell stories to him, Iruka would sit on his lap and listen to him until his eyes grew heavy. Orochimaru would always bring him back home afterward. When they first started hanging out it only a few hours a day, but then it was longer and longer. Iruka began to resent his adoptive Father for keeping all these secrets from him. Why hadn’t he learned about Orochimaru until now?! The man was clearly a part of his family, a brother even.

Then one night he woke up and heard screams, he had fallen asleep listening to stories again. Orochimaru had given him a little room in the warehouse. The screams grew louder and Iruka was worried. The night sky peeked through the window and Iruka realized that he should be home by now. He entered the hallway and walked towards the screams. He opened the door where the screams were coming from and stopped in his tracks. Orochimaru was standing over a man, he was stabbing the man's eye with a syringe. The man was chained up, he had open wounds all over his body, but what caught Iruka's attention the most was all of the blood. It was leaking from his eye, the open wounds, it was running down his legs to the floor, and he wouldn't stop screaming. Iruka let out an audible gasp, and Orochimaru turned around to look at him.

“This isn’t-” Orochimaru tried but Iruka turned his back and ran. He was scared, was he next? Was...was that murder? He found his way outside and kept running. He was in the woods, deep in the woods. His heart was beating fast but he didn’t stop running. He didn't feel his feet hit the ground, he felt like he was flying. Eventually, he reached a road. It was empty, no one was driving this time of night. He wanted to be home with his family, tears started to fill his eyes. What if he never saw them again? He was only walking alongside the road for a few minutes (that seems like an eternity) before a familiar car pulled up. “Get in, I’m taking you home,” Orochimaru ordered.

“Okay,” Iruka said, now that the adrenaline was gone his feet hurt, and he wanted to go home. He was scared, but some part of him knew that Orochimaru wouldn't hurt him.

“You’re not going to tell anyone what you saw right?” Orochimaru asked, he had to leave town tonight. There was no staying here after this. Iruka was going to tell Hiruzen, and Orochimaru was going to have to flee. He was conflicted, he loved Iruka but...he couldn't bring the boy into this life. Only if Iruka chose him, which...he most likely wouldn't. Still, every moment they spent together was meaningful, and he was grateful for it.

“I won’t, I promise,” Iruka responded, thinking of all the blood brought tears to his eyes. He refused to ask about it further, he wanted to forget.

“Good,” Orochimaru said, “I’m going to leave town in a few days. Do you want to come with me?” He had to try, he wanted to bring Iruka with him, even if he knew that he couldn't. He was going to return the boy home, he had to, it was the best option.

“No,” Iruka was crying, tears streaking down his face without end, he wanted his family. “No, I want to go home to my Dad, and my Mom, and my brothers.”

“Those people are not your family members Iruka, I am.” Orochimaru said softly, “But...I won’t force you to come with me. I promise that I will be back okay. I love you, you love me right?”

“Of course, I love you!” Iruka wailed, “But I want to go home!”

“Are you sure, you don’t want to come with me?" Orochimaru tried again, he couldn't help it, "I’ll be so sad, we won’t be able to hang out anymore.”

“Please I want to go home.” Iruka pleaded. The conversation kept on in the same vein for a while until it was just silence and Iruka bawling. Orochimaru dropped him off on the usual corner.

“Iruka listen to me closely, remember these words. Dolphins like to swim in bloody water. Can you remember that?”

“Yes,” Iruka said, “but it’s not true. I’m a dolphin and I don’t like blood at all.”

Orochimaru smiled at him, “You are my little dolphin, aren’t you?” he cooed, “Remember that line, okay? Can you repeat it back to me?”

“Dolphins like to swim in bloody water,” he said easily. “You’re going to be gone a long time?”

“Yes, are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“I want to go home,” Iruka said, “but I love you, big brother.”

“I love you too,” Orochimaru said softly. He got out of the car and opened the door for Iruka, they shared a long hug. Orochimaru didn't want to let go, but this was for the best. Hiruzen was right all those years ago, this was the best decision for Iruka. The boy was never meant to live with him. He had a good heart, he was Ikkaku and Kohari's greatest legacy. He was safer here. Orochimaru let go and got in the car. Instead of taking off he watched Iruka walk and keep walking until he was a speck in the horizon. They were never meant to live together as brothers, they were on different paths of life. A tear made its way down Orochimaru's cheek, it smudged his eyeliner. He wiped it away and drove off, he had to leave town tonight.

Iruka knocked on the door weakly, feeling run down. He felt emotionally run down. Kazuma answered the door swinging it open, “Iruka!” he hollered and swooped him up in his arms. “We were so worried!”

“You’re back!” Asuma said and threw his arms around both of them. “I thought you were gone forever!”

“Iruka baby,” Biwako ran forth and pulled her son into her arms. “Iruka, my goodness, you’re alive! Mommy loves you so much!”

“We have to call Dad, and tell him you’re back,” Kazuma said, he noticed Iruka’s face was pushed into their Mother’s nightgown and he was crying hysterically. “Asuma, call Dad.”

“O-okay!” Asuma responded, but instead, he ran forward and put his arms around his younger brother and his Mother. Kazuma sighed and grabbed his phone and informed his Dad. Iruka stayed in his Mother’s arms until their Father came home. 

Hiruzen came home and grabbed Iruka, pulling him in a tight hug, “I’m so glad you’re okay. Daddy loves you, you know that right?”

“Yes,” Iruka said and hugged his Dad.

“Iruka, where were you?” he asked. “Please, Daddy wants to know. Where did you go?”

Iruka knew it wasn’t right to lie, he didn’t know what to do. “I don’t want my friend to get in trouble.” 

“Your friend?” Asuma asked, “Who's your friend?”

“Come on Asuma, let’s...let’s go to bed.” Kazuma grabbed his younger brother's arm and pulled him away. “Let’s go check on Naruto, he should still be sleeping.” The family had recently adopted him, he was still just a baby.

“Okay,” Asuma agreed, walking out the room with his brother.

“You can tell us anything Iruka,” Biwako said, “We’re your parents, we care for you.”

“He’s just my friend,” Iruka said, “he...he wanted me to go with him but I didn’t want to. I told him I wanted to come back home to you guys.” His voice was frantic. “So he took me home, and I’m never gonna see him again that’s it!”

“Did he touch you anywhere?” Biwako asked, concerned. "Remember we discussed our private places, we discussed how no one is allowed to touch you there. Were you touched there?"

“N-no!” Iruka said, “No he didn't…” his heart was beating, he didn’t know if Orochimaru was a bad guy or not, the blood and the needle in the eye were flashing through his mind, and he threw up all over himself and his parents.

“Iruka,” Hiruzen spoke up, not phased by the vomit at all.

“Honey enough," Biwako interrupted him, "he needs to get cleaned up. He won’t tell us everything tonight. He needs rest.”

“Was it Orochimaru?” Hiruzen asked.

“Y-you know him?” Iruka asked surprised, “He’s my friend! We hang out after school, he knew my parents!”

“You are never allowed to see him again? Do you understand me?” Hiruzen was screaming at his son. 

“Okay, Daddy.” Iruka said the tears coming back in full force, “Okay, I promise. I promise. He’s bad, Daddy, I think he killed someone!”

“Where?” Hiruzen asked.

“I don’t know.” Iruka said, “I don’t know. There was blood, and-and,” he became hysterical.

“Enough,” Biwako spoke up, “I’m going to clean him up, and get some rest. He’s our child, we need to make sure HE is okay?”

“We could catch him,” Hiruzen pointed out, "we can end this tonight!"

“No!” Biwako yelled, “No, Iruka’s sleeping in our bed with me. You can sleep on the couch.” She picked up her son, vomit and all began to take care of him. She’s a doctor, she looked for injuries and signs of sexual abuse but he didn’t seem hurt in the slightest. He was emotionally a mess, the tears wouldn't stop, and he just looked so sad and miserable. Biwako thanked the universe that her son had come home to her. Iruka was okay, he was alive! That's all that mattered, they can get through the rest together.

**************************************************************************

“Anko?” Iruka asked, he was in his office preparing for a meeting when she called.

“Hey Iruka,” her voice sounded...sad, battered, maybe? Iruka couldn’t quite determine it, but he felt his heart beating fast.

“What’s up?” he asked casually.

“We need to meet,” Anko said, “are you free for lunch today?”

“I am,” Iruka said, “I’m busy right now, can you call my assistant, Shikamaru? I’ll have him set something up.”

“Sure,” Anko said, this time he could tell she was a bit miffed.

“Alright, I’ll text you his number,” he said and hung up. He texted the number and took a deep breath. He knew what she had to talk to him about. The code, she needed help breaking the code. She knew Iruka could break the code, she didn’t know if he would help her. This lunch was going to be tense.

***********************************************************

“What’s your name?” Iruka asked the girl with the purple snake around her neck. He was thirteen now and he was walking home from school, alone. Or he was until this girl stood before him; effectively blocking his path. “And what do you want?” Iruka looked her over she had purple hair and beautiful light brown eyes. The most striking thing about her, however, was how familiar she looked.

“Dolphins like to swim in bloody water,” she responded. 

Iruka’s whole body tensed, but he wasn't scared. If anything, he had been waiting for this day. “What...do you have a message for me?”

“I’m going to take you somewhere,” Anko told him, the snake shot off her neck and landed on Iruka’s shoulder. “Don’t move, if you defy me that snake will bite you! I promise.”

Iruka could feel the snake's teeth on his neck, he stiffened. He followed behind her, pinpricks on his neck. He finally recognized her, “You’re...you’re that missing girl!” He announced, “Your name is Anko.”

She paused for a moment then kept walking, “What makes you think that?” she asked.

“You left a year ago,” Iruka said, “my Mom...she died last year and your Grandma came to the funeral. She looks just like you, her hair is still purple.”

“Is she still alive?” Anko asked; the hope in her voice was unmissable.

“Yeah,” Iruka said, “I visit her sometimes. She used to work at the hospital with my Mom, and she tells me all these stories about her.” He stopped walking, “Anko, go see her with me.”

“What?” she asked, she stopped walking and turned to him.

“You don’t have to listen to Orochimaru, you can...you can go back home and visit your Grandma. She really misses you.” Iruka grabbed his phone, a movement that startled the girl and she pulled a knife out.

"Put the phone down!" She demanded.

He scrolled through it for a quick moment and opened it up to a photo, “Here isn’t this your favorite flower, your grandma plants them in her garden!” He held it out so she could see it. Her eyes began to water, he swiped and showed Anko a picture of her grandmother. It wasn't the most flattering but it was real. She had insisted that Iruka take a picture of her and her garden. She was sweaty, she had just worked in the garden all day, but she had this proud smile on her face; in her hand was one of Anko's flowers.

Anko was nearly in tears, "B-but, I," she put the knife away and wiped her eyes, "I can't go back!"

“Orochimaru kidnapped you!” Iruka said, “He might have told you all these things, but at the end of the day he’s a bad person! My Dad used to be a police chief, and he has all this information about how bad Orochimaru is, come on, I’ll help you run away!”

“I’m scared,” Anko admitted, tears were freely pouring from her eyes, her body shaking, “he’ll find me and-”

“If he comes to find you, I’ll protect you,” Iruka promised.

Anko moved forward and hugged Iruka tightly pressing her face into his chest. The snake slithers back onto her, down her jacket and curling up into her pocket. This moment, Anko crying in his arms it kindled a memory. It reminded Iruka of his own mother; Five years ago, when he had cried into her arms that night Orochimaru had dropped him off for the last time. That night his Mother held him in her bed; she had sobbed when she thought he was sleeping. That was the scariest part, the thought that his actions would take him away from his Mom, his Dad, his brothers (Kazuma, Asuma, Naruto). He would have lost everything he had. He wanted to make sure Anko got home safe. They were holding hands as he walked her home. He watched as Anko’s grandmother cried as she hugged her grandchild. He missed his Mom, he would never leave his family again. That being said, he needed to protect Anko. He knew where to go, Orochimaru had left clues ever since he left. A drawing of a dolphin here, a note he found in his textbook, a figurine, clues he had put together a month ago that created a location. It was different, not the hideout in the woods; this was a hideout in an old warehouse district. It had been a long walk, Orochimaru was personally waiting for him outside.

“I want you to leave Anko alone,” Iruka said firmly.

Orochimaru gave a deep sigh, “Hiruzen brainwashed you,” he noted. “It’s nice the former police chief is now the CEO of a company. He did that with Biwako’s money ya know? He waited for her to die and then he used her money.”

“Stop,” Iruka said calmly. He's been rehearsing these lines, “they’re my parents. I love them, I love my birth parents, and I love you. You're my brother, but...I have three brothers back home that I love too. I’m not going to leave with you or hang out with you, but...I appreciate the kindness you showed to me when I was young.”

Orochimaru paused, “You speak like Hiruzen, but your heart...it’s your Father’s, you have his eyes too. Your Mother’s kindness. You’re just like them, you’re real parents.”

“That makes me happy to hear, but...I’m not staying long,” Iruka said.

“I know,” Orochimaru said, “this is for the best. I love you but...the lifestyle I live isn’t for you. Anko has a good heart too, ya know? She’s nothing like you but having a child around, was nice. I wished she was you. But I know that I corrupted her, I was training her to take over my research, she doesn’t have the heart for it.”

“Then leave her alone,” Iruka said simply.

Orochimaru hummed, “I have a gift for you,” he walked over and stood before him, handing him a box. “This is a box of your parents' things. I will always be watching out for you, and I will always be around if you need me.”

Iruka took the box and smiled sadly, “Thank you.” He hesitated and took a tentative step back, “What does 'dolphins like swimming in bloody water' mean? It’s confusing, I haven’t been able to figure it out.”

“It’s in the box, in the Dolphin book. I’ll be leaving Konoha for a long time, by the way. I’ll be back one day though, and using that book you’ll be able to find me.” Orochimaru sighed, “I’ll leave Anko alone, but I have to erase the year she spent with me from her mind-”

“No,” Iruka objected, “don’t go near her.”

“It’s already happened,” Orochimaru said, “she’s in the hospital right now. You promised to protect her and then you left, but she will be fine. She has a friend like you.”

Iruka looked at him angrily and wanted to punch him in frustration, but he kept his distance. He put the box down and took a deep breath. He walked up to Orochimaru and hugged him tightly. Orochimaru hugged him back just a tight. Iruka let go and picked up the box once more.

“I love you Iruka.”

“I know,” Iruka said, “I love you too.” He walked all the way home, it was a long walk. It was deep into the night when he finally arrived home, he used his key to enter and then went straight to his room. He hid the box deep in his closet before going to face his Father.

“You broke curfew,” Hiruzen said as he looked at his son; his jeans were dirty, and he looked sweaty and run down.

“I texted you,” Iruka reminded him then retreated the statement, “but I’m sorry.”

“How are Kotetsu and Izumo?” Hiruzen asked, “You knuckleheads.” It was sort of a relief, maybe his son had gone somewhere and had fun. He was failing all of his children ,except Naruto, were unhappy. He didn't know what to do.

Iruka smiled, “They’re good,” he replied. “I have a confession.”

“What’s up?” Hiruzen asked.

“I saw Orochimaru today,” Iruka said, he watched Hiruzen stiffen up at the name. “I told him to leave me alone, he won’t but I want to let you know that I’ll never ever be on his side. You’re my family, and I will spend the rest of my life avoiding and running away from him. I love you Dad.”

Hiruzen stood up and hugged his son, “I should have hugged you that day when you were eight years old. I shouldn’t have yelled, I’m sorry. Your Mother was so much better at this stuff than I am.”

“You’re doing good,” Iruka smiled and then frowned deeply, “I miss Mom.”

“I miss her too,” Hiruzen replied.

“Anko is back too. Orochimaru sent her to get me and I convinced her to leave Orochimaru’s gang. It was actually too easy, maybe she already wanted to leave. But that’s the reason I went to see him. I told her to leave him alone, and he promised that he would...but he had to do this mind sweep or whatever on her and now she’s in the hospital.”

“Want to go visit her, I have connections,” Hiruzen said.

“Tomorrow,” Iruka said. “Tonight, I just want to sleep.”

“I know you’re old but if you want to sleep in my bed tonight-” Hiruzen started but then got cut off, because Naruto farted next to them, the little five-year-old was already sleeping in bed next to Hiruzen.

Iruka laughed, “Sure I’ll join you guys. I’m going to go shower.”

“Alright buddy, see ya soon.” Hiruzen said, and then a thought formed in his head, "hey Iruka,"

"Yes, Dad?" Iruka asked.

Hiruzen looked at the little boy, and felt such a surge of pride, "I love you."

Iruka ducked his head and hid his smile. His Father was never overly affectionate, it felt nice. "I love you too, Dad."

***********************************************************

“It’s good to see you Anko,” Iruka slid into a booth, it was in the corner. A convenient location to have a private conversation, he noted. “You look beautiful as always.”

“You flatter me,” she smiled and got up to hug him. “How’s the new job? Double the salary?”

“A little more than double,” Iruka said awkwardly with a scratch on the nose. “I...it’s a fine job. Asuma needs me so that’s why I’m there. Also, the money is quite nice, and I get to work with Kotetsu and Izumo.”

Anko smiled, “All four of us have to get together soon, it’s been too long.” She was already eating dango, and she had a plate stacked with the stuff, “You’re paying for this by the way.”

“I figured,” Iruka chuckled. “Did you at least order something for me?”

“Nope.” Anko laughed.

Iruka shook his head, “I’m going to order, I’ll be back.” He ordered and paid the whole bill before sitting back down. “You look great, are you seeing anyone?”

Anko laughed, “You’re so awkward, you wanna date me? Go back to when we were sixteen?”

“Ah leave me alone,” Iruka chuckled, “I was being nice.”

“I’m not seeing anyone.” Anko said with a wink, “Wanna go out?”

“Isn’t this technically a date right now?” Iruka decided to playback, “And I know you’re lying you’re totally seeing someone. I’ve narrowed it down to two options.”

“Hmmm?” Anko asked, interested.

“Ibiki or Gai.” Iruka guessed.

Anko laughed, “You’ll never know.” she slipped danjo into her mouth at the same time, and lowkey spit everywhere.

“I know I’m close!” Iruka responded. “Anyway, how’s work?” A waitress brought Iruka’s food over. She refilled their waters, received their thank yous, and hurried off to give them privacy.

“Work is,” she hesitated, “difficult. Orochimaru is back in town.” Iruka gave her a shocked look, and she rolled her eyes, “I know that you know.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Iruka replied easily and put some food in his mouth. “That’s bad news though, did you get the case?”

“I am on the case.” Anko replied, her voice getting serious and calm (never a good sign), “And I need your help.”

Iruka hummed, he had expected this. “Don’t you think it’s lame, that they assigned you the case. Because of a history with him that you don’t even remember.”

Anko remained patient (it’s honestly not her strong suit). “I was assigned the case because I am the most qualified, and I deserved it. I have been working hard for years, and a big case like this is an honor.”

Iruka flinched at her tone, she was using...her extremely rare...serious voice. “I can’t help you with your case.” Iruka said, “Anyway I was hoping-”

“Iruka,” Anko said in a stern voice, “ I heard that dolphins like to swim in bloody water, want to see if it's true? ’ What does it mean?”

Iruka shrugged, “I don’t know. I haven’t been in contact with Orochimaru in years, you know that. I was eight years old the last time I saw him.”

Anko was silent for a moment, “Your Dad thought of everything, did you know that he had this file on you?” her voice was dangerous, Iruka felt it wrapping around his throat, like a snake. “Did you know that the whole reason he started his company was because he wanted to be in a less dangerous position. He wanted to be home more so he could keep an eye on you, especially after the death of your mother, his wife. Biwako and himself had an idea to start the company years before that, her death cemented it. Ya know, the company you are currently helping to run.”

Iruka’s hand became fists, he wanted to punch her out, she knew how sensitive he still was regarding his Father’s death. He knew she wasn't done yet, there was more life, he could feel her getting ready to strike.

“There’s a rumor going around that Orochimaru killed your Father. Do you want to know if it’s true?” 

Iruka was starting to see red, “Anko stop-” The thought that Orochimaru could have murdered his Father was...too much! He felt sick to his stomach, he felt himself becoming dizzy.

“I know that you met up with Orochimaru when you were thirteen, it was right after you convinced me to quit his gang. I only remember waking up in a hospital bed, but I used to have vivid dreams of you convincing me to quit. I was never sure if they were true and I was too shy to ask you. In the dreams, I used that phrase, but I have no idea what it means. You do! If you help me I’ll give you the information you want. I know you’re searching for Orochimaru on your own. It’s unwise, you should let the police be there to help you. It’s what your Father would have wanted.”

Iruka stood up, “Don’t contact me ever again, whatever friendship we ever had is now over. I hope I never see you again.” he spat out. He forced himself to calmly left the restaurant. He walked to the closest gym, pulled out his membership, and took all his anger out on a punching bag. He must have looked crazy; he was wearing a full suit, and dress shoes while punching the shit out of a punching bag bare-handed. His knuckles were turning red but he didn’t mind the pain, he kept going until hours passed by and then he drove himself home. He had missing calls from Sasuke and Shikamaru but he ignored them. He showered and fell asleep. He heard someone enter his apartment, and sat up alarmed.

“Iruka!” it was Sasuke’s voice. “It’s Sasuke, I’m here to check on you.”

Iruka opened his bedroom door, “Hey Sasuke,” he said rubbing his eyes, “welcome.”

“You’ve been sleeping all day?” he asked, “Ya know Shikamaru had to miss classes to go to meetings for you! Thankfully he had me. I went to classes for him and took notes. Where were you all day?”

“I had to take a nap.” Iruka said, “I was exhausted.”

Sasuke crossed his arms, “It was really irresponsible of you to-”

“Sasuke,” Iruka said in a warning voice, “I’m not going to sit here and be lectured by a sixteen-year-old.” He took a deep breath, “I...got in an argument with a friend...she mentioned some...possibly disturbing information about my Father’s...passing and I needed to take a moment to breathe.”

Sasuke took a step back, “Oh, I umm...I understand. Shikamaru and I were just worried, that’s all.”

“I should have reached out, my apologies.” Iruka sighed, “I’m going back to bed now.”

“Right, good night Iruka.”

“Good night Sasuke.”

Iruka went back to sleep, back to being alone.

*************************************************************


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please assume that Kakashi doesn't wear his mask around Iruka (no matter who else is around).

He knew it was time, he’s been pushing this off for too long. He had just come home from work but instead of relaxing, he was a man on a mission. He went to his closet, he had built a hidden compartment inside an air vent that was in there. (Why was there an air vent in the closet anyway, right?) and grabbed the box of his parents' things. He’s been through the box a thousand times, especially in moments when his mind missed two people he didn’t quite remember, his parents...his biological parents. A large picture of them on their wedding day was always at the top. They looked so happy and young. Iruka knew that he looked like them, a perfect combination. He stared at it for a moment before finally reaching into the box to get what he needed. It was a scientific picture book about dolphins. His parents had ripped out a few pages that detailed how dolphins like to occasionally murder for fun and how exactly they did it. Orochimaru had grabbed the pages out of his trash can and kept them. And then after their death, he snuck the pages back in and eventually gave him this book. The words “ I heard that dolphins like to swim in bloody water, want to see if it's true?’” were written in Orochimaru’s handwriting and if you laid the four pages out the correct way the words became a map. There were five places where Orochimaru could be. He knew two of them were off the list; one had been used to capture Raido and the other had eventually been found and shut down by his Dad. That left three places, however the words, bloody water were circling one particular building and Iruka knew that's where Raido was being kept. He took a picture with his phone and put the box back into place. He had to devise a plan and suddenly his phone started ringing, startling him.

“Hello?” he grabbed at it after physically jolting it across the room by accident.

“Hey, did you want to go on our date today?” Kakashi asked. “I know we planned for a different day, I just-”

“Yeah, I’ve had a rough week so spending some time with you would be great actually,” Iruka admitted, and was a bit surprised when the phone was silent afterward. “Kakashi?”

“You!” Kakashi started giggling, “You just admitted that you like spending time with me!”

Iruka shook his head, “I mean yeah, is that a big deal?”

“Yes!” Kakashi said, “I’m on my way to pick you up! See you soon.” 

“W-wait!” Iruka said, but it was too late. He wasn’t sure whether to dress up fancy or casual. And he hung up. Iruka quickly went to shower, he put on a pair of blue nice fitting jeans that were basically pants. He put on a white shirt, left a few of the top buttons unbuttoned and tucked into his shirt. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and checked himself out in the mirror. He looked nice. He needed to do his hair...he put his hair in a bun instead of it’s usual ponytail then changed his mind and left it in a low ponytail. He found himself actually a bit excited for the date which surprised him. Was he...was he catching feelings? Kakashi texted him that he was downstairs and Iruka came down. He was waiting for him in the parking lot car still running. Iruka came to the open window and leaned in. He gave Kakashi a sweet kiss on the cheek, “Come on, be a gentleman open my door.” he teased.

“Right away!” Kakashi exclaimed, he opened the door quickly accidentally knocking Iruka to the ground in the process.

“W-woah!” Iruka said with a laugh as he got up. “Is my white shirt messed up?” He asked and turned around so Kakashi could see the back.

“I’m sorry but anyway you look great!” Kakashi said too into his feelings to notice the huge black scuff marks from the black street.

Iruka shook his head, “There has to be a stain, give me a moment okay, I’m going to change.” 

“Wait Iruka,” Kakashi tried to grab him.

“Hey, what are you doing,” Iruka easily evaded, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”

He went upstairs to change and found Izumo in his apartment. The man had clearly just entered, and he was staring at Iruka and looking down at his phone. His good mood changed instantly. “Get out.”

“Iruka, I was looking for you and-”

Iruka had to make a split decision; he had to decide how he wanted to play this. Izumo had bugged his apartment, he must have a camera in his bedroom, he must have seen Iruka get the box. He reported to someone and now he was here to extract the information. He wanted to scream at him, wanted to admit that he knew everything. “I-I can’t hang out right now,” he said kindly. He wanted to beat him up. He came closer and then he saw a name highlighted on Izumo’s phone...it was...Kakashi...Kakashi had called Izumo to give him a warning. None of this was real, he was being played...and here he thought he was in control of the whole situation. He placed a hand on his head as the thoughts flooded into him.

“Are you okay?” Izumo asked. “I can stay with you for a bit.”

“Leave, now.” Iruka said, “I...I suddenly feel unwell.”

“If you’re feeling unwell I can-”

“Izumo, please leave,” Iruka said, and Izumo sighed and left the apartment. He called Kakashi, “Hey I’m...actually not feeling very well. I have to cancel.”

“Okay,” Kakashi said simply. Iruka hadn't expected him to give up that easily.

Thirty minutes later there was a knock on his door. He looked through the peephole and saw Kakashi, he opened the door. “Hey what are you doing here?”

“I know you want to stay home since you’re not feeling well. I rented a few movies and I bought some food so I can cook for you. I can make some homemade soup, does that sound good?” Kakashi was standing in the hallway waiting to be asked inside.

Iruka didn’t know how to feel, not to mention he looked horrible. He had changed into sweatpants and an undershirt. He had gone back to the air vent. He made a show of looking at the objects in the box and then moved them to a different room. He had placed a small disruptor in Naruto’s room a long time ago. If you hit the wall right it will disrupt and destroy any cameras that could possibly be inside of it. He kicked the wall then moved to hide the smaller box with the original box of his parents' items, under Naruto’s floorboards. It was in a military-grade lockbox that only he and Naruto knew the code too. He had won, and now, here Kakashi was. Was he still trying to get the box? What were his intentions? 

“Why are you here Kakashi? What are you getting out of this?” Iruka asked. “If you want to have sex, we can have sex...we don’t have to-”

“I want more than sex,” Kakashi said quietly, “I just...can we spend some time together today?”

Iruka didn’t know what to do, was Kakashi trying to take the box? Was he trying to get him to leave the apartment so someone else would break in? Who else was he feeding secrets to? His trust had been broken. “Am I your mission?” Iruka asked in an extremely quiet voice. 

He didn’t think Kakashi would hear him but the man responded quickly, “Oh my goodness no! You’re not my mission.”

“You called Izumo, the only reason you tried to go on a date with me was to get me out of the apartment, true or false?” Iruka asked point-blank.

“False.” Kakashi insisted, “It’s false.”

“But part of it is true?” Iruka asked.

Kakashi shook his head, “None of it is true.”

Iruka stared at his face, “You’re a good liar.” he laughed. “You fooled me didn’t you?”

“Can you let me explain?” Kakashi entered the apartment, pushing past Iruka and he moved to the dining table to put his things down.

“Go ahead, explain,” Iruka said. “Do it, or are you afraid of some microphone hearing you.”

“There are no mics in your apartment,” Kakashi said without thinking, “shit, you’re really breaking me down here Iruka.”

“I don’t even know if you’re telling me the truth!” Iruka groaned.

“You know more than you’re supposed to,” Kakashi said softly, “I’m on your side, I’m the one who erased the footage of you sneaking into Asuma’s office. I asked you on a date and then afterward I got told to contact you to keep you out of the apartment. I told them we already had plans for today, that’s it. I was informed about what Izumo was doing, and I called him to give him a warning that you were coming up. I tried to text but it didn’t go through and we were running out of time. It was stupid and I’m sorry. The only reason I asked you on a date was because I wanted to see you that’s it. That’s why I'm here now, no one knows I’m here. I wasn’t assigned to be here, and I’ll leave your stuff alone.”

Iruka closed his eyes and stood still as he concluded his thoughts...Kakashi sounded like he was telling the truth. He opened his eyes and scratched his scar, “Okay,” he said simply, “but you’re on very thin ice. For some reason, I do believe that you care about me. If any of my stuff goes missing, whatever this is...it’s over, you got it?”

“Got it,” Kakashi agreed, “now come keep me company in the kitchen while I cook.“ He took one of Iruka’s hands in his. Iruka was surprised by how easy and relaxed the action was, their hands intertwined. The pale hand holding his, it was...comforting. Playfully Kakashi picked him up and sat him on the counter. He gave Iruka’s nose a little kiss and moved around the kitchen learning it: finding out where everything was. Iruka just watched him, and didn’t offer help, Kakashi didn’t ask, and it was adorable how domestic the action was. Why did this man like him? “You have a lot of good things here,” Kakashi commented, “do you cook?”

“I do,” Iruka said, “I used to be horrible but I’m pretty good now. What are you making?”

“My Mother passed away due to birth complications, but as a teenager, I found a handwritten cook book that she made. Cooking made me feel closer to her.” He was taking his time to wash the vegetables. “I was horrible at first, but now I can make anything in that cookbook from memory. That being said, I cannot freestyle or make anything outside of the cookbook. I’ve tried looking up recipes online, following them word for word, and no matter what it will be a complete disaster. So in some ways, I am a good cook, and in others I am horrible.” He began to make the broth, filling it into a pan.

“I’m sorry that your mother passed away,” Iruka said softly. “Your father too.”

Kakashi gave Iruka a smile, “Thank you, I am sorry for the passing of both sets of your parents.” he returned the sentiment. “That being said, my Father used to tell me that my Mother died with no regrets. Sure she wanted to raise but around month 8 she grew very ill. Cancer, in the last stages, she knew giving birth to me was the last thing she would be able to do. Her last wish was to hold me in her arms, and she did. She got to see me and hold me for a few minutes before she passed on. Perhaps she could have gotten treatments, but having birth complicates on top of the cancer was too much. So my Father used to sometimes tell me, my greatest gift was my life. My Father was a terrible gift-giver, so I used to hear it around once a year near the holidays.”

Iruka chuckled at the story, “I thought you were a reserved man,” he commented, watching Kakashi cut up vegetables as the broth was warming up.

“I am,” Kakashi said, “but I don’t mind talking about myself with you. I guess you just bring it out in me.”

“Because you like me,” Iruka stated.

“Yes.” Kakashi agreed, he spared a look at Iruka, and came to rest between his knees for a moment. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Maybe,” Iruka flirted and pressed their lips together for a lingering kiss.

“Alright,” Kakashi said, breaking the kiss, “you’re going to distract me. I am not going back to burning my Mother’s recipes. Please kiss the chief when he’s out of the kitchen.”

Iruka chuckled, they fell into a light conversation about life. Iruka opened up too, talking about his favorite moments with his Mom and his Dad. Kakashi would laugh with him and share some childhood memories of his Dad. Talking about the ones they loss made all those that they lost feel more present, unforgotten, real.

“It tastes delicious,” Iruka nearly moaned when he tasted it, “it...it tastes like home.”

Kakashi intertwined their hands, “I hope...eventually...I could be a home to you.”

It was too much at once, Iruka blushed madly and squeezed Kakashi’s hands but he could not reply. How could you like someone as broken as me? “What movies did you get?” He changed the subject.

They picked a movie together and cuddled together on the couch, under a soft blanket. They watched another, and another. They didn’t pay attention to the third movie, Iruka was sitting on Kakashi’s lap sliding his tongue deep into the man’s mouth.

“I didn’t want to have sex tonight,” Kakashi admitted, “I just wanted to spend time with you.” He pulled Iruka in close, “But you’re frustrated, you’ve had a challenging day, and I want to make you happy. Also, you’re really hot, and you’re so good at sex.”

Iruka chuckled a little as they began taking off their shirts. “So are you.” He got off the couch so he could lead them to the bedroom but Kakashi stopped him. The older man grabbed his wrist tightly and pulled him back on top. “What are you doing?” Iruka asked surprised.

“Mmm,” Kakashi hummed, “I’m in control tonight.” Iruka felt his cock jump, and Kakashi felt the movement in between them. “Excited?”

“Shut up,” Iruka huffed teasingly.

Kakashi hummed, “We can stop at any time, okay? I don’t plan on being too aggressive, I just want to be bossy. Is that okay? Do you want to use code words? You can just tell me to stop if you want to, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I trust you,” Iruka responded, “I’ll just tell you to stop if I want to stop.”

“Okay,” Kakashi kissed his cheek, “Get my pants off of me, that’s an order.” his voice was stern and unyielding; it was a complete change to his usual self. Kakashi’s grip on Iruka’s wrist got harder, to the point where he worried he was being too rough.

Iruka rushed to get Kakashi’s pants off, his boxers came down too, one-handed he was able to pull them both off, and then moved to undo his own.

“Did I tell you to do that?” Kakashi asked, his voice was severe and it sent a shiver down Iruka's spin.

“N-no sir,” Iruka whispered, his voice vibrated ever so slightly, revealing his pleasure.

“Excuse me?” Kakashi huffed.

“No sir!” Iruka said louder, “Can I suck your dick now, sir?”

“No,” Kakashi said, “take off your pants, now. Go get some lube.”

“Yes sir,” Iruka scrambled to get his pants off and he rushed to his bedroom and came back. “How do you want me, sir?”

Kakashi was sitting on the couch, his back was against the armrest. He snatched the lube away from Iruka’s hand, and patted himself on the chest twice, “Put your ass in my face, and suck my dick.”

Without hesitating, Iruka did a perfect handstand right next to the couch. He brought his feet carefully down so his shins were on either side of Kakashi’s head; he adjusted his body accordingly so he was draped over Kakashi’s body. He began to suck on his partner's dick eagerly and without hesitation. He took him in as deep as he could on the first go. He bobbed his head up and down swirling his tongue in the slit. When he could take more he began moving down Kakashi's swirling his tounge as he sucked his cheeks in. Kakashi grew fully hard in Iruka’s mouth, causing both of them to moan at the feeling.

Kakashi grabbed the lube, opened it, and poured some directly into Iruka’s hole. Iruka wasn’t expecting it, he shook a little at the sensation; his ass cheeks moving in Kakashi’s face. Kakashi bit down on his ass and sucked wanting to leave a mark. Iruka’s mouth popped free of Kakashi's dick as he moaned at the sensation.

“Feels good.” Iruka praised him, “Fuck.”He thrust just slightly, letting his dick move against Kakashi’s chest/upper stomach area. 

“I’ll get to your little friend in a moment-”

“Little,” Iruka said, offended; breaking character.

“Sorry,” Kakashi broke character too for a moment, “it’s not little, I was just-”

“Right sorry,” Iruka responded, “go on.”

Kakashi shook his head and tried again, “I’ll get to your friend in a moment, keep sucking my dick.”

“Yes sir.” Iruka agreed with the command and got to work. Kakashi pulled Iruka’s ass apart and plunged his tongue in, Iruka moaned causing a vibrating feeling around Kakashi's dick that almost made the man cum. Kakashi curled his toes, he had to be more careful. He continued eating Iruka out, swirling his tongue in as deep as it could go, and playing with the soft, pliable, flesh of Iruka’s big fat ass. He added in a finger, and then another, and he kept going until he could fit four fingers inside. He was surprised neither of them had cum yet, but not displeased. 

“Get off of me,” Kakashi demanded.

“Yes sir,” Iruka scrambled to get off of him; not as graceful as before. Iruka glanced at his own dick it was swollen, red, and neglected.

“Sit on my dick,” Kakashi said casually; putting a hand to his face, showing himself as an authority figure.

“Yes sir,” Iruka eagerly got onto the couch. He lowered himself until all of Kakashi was seated deep inside of him. Kakashi barely held in his moan, Iruka did not hold back at all. “Fuck, you feel so good inside of me. Fuck I’ve missed you, missed your body, wanted this so bad. All night I-”

“Silence,” Kakashi commanded, even though he really really wanted to hear what Iruka had to say.

“Yeah,” Iruka said, losing his composure. 

Kakashi lowered his position on the couch slightly; he moved his hips until he was certain that he had hit that spot deep inside of Iruka that made him see white. Iruka screamed his name as soon as he touched it. “I want you to grind down on me, get yourself off using my dick, I want my penis to hit you there over and over again until you go blind.”

“R-really?” Iruka asked. He was...surprised, “Men don’t ever-”

“Don’t talk about your previous experiences when you’re with me.” Kakashi commanded, “Do as I say.”

“Yeah,” Iruka began to grind down on him, moving his hips fluidly, as he used Kakashi’s dick to rub up against that spot, over and over; he really was going blind. Hot white pleasure was coursing through him, he was going to cum; he was going to cum hard and fast. He stopped.

“Did I tell you to stop?”

“N-no,” Iruka responded, he looked at Kakashi with lidded eyes, the man was barely keeping it together. 

“Then keep going,” Kakashi’s voice cracked, in a rather embarrassing way but...Iruka thought it was sexy as hell. He leaned forward and grabbed onto Kakashi’s shoulders.

“This does it for you doesn’t it?” Iruka whispered as he began to grind his hips again. The pleasure sparked from deep within and shot through his body like a lightening bolt. His toes and fingers felt sensitive, he gripped on Kakashi’s shoulders like a lifeline. “Knowing you can do this, hhyyyuungh,” Iruka’s loud moan ripped his words apart, “shit, knowing you and only you can do this for me. Letting me, huh-huh, mmmnnggyyyuuhhh, fuck, letting me, fuck, shit, rub up against you like this. You think I’m fuckin hot, you like watching me.”

“Sssshhhh,” Kakashi said half-heartedly, “you’re gonna make me, you...cum first.”

“We’ll see about that.” Iruka doubled down spelling Pineapple with his hips. He was shaking he knew; he was shaking, he was on the edge, he couldn’t not yet. “Ahhhnngghhh fuck, Kashi, Kashi, come on, give it to me. Want you to fill me unnnghhh up, wanna feel your cum.”

Kakashi grabbed his hips and thrust up hard and deep, he only did it twice and Iruka spilled all over his chest, and Kakashi came inside of him a moment later. They breathed harshly: their breaths mingling together.

“Fuck that was hot,” Kakashi whispered.

“Yeah, really hot.” Iruka agreed, his whole body weight was on Kakashi, and the man was still inside of him. He didn’t want to move. 

“Wanna go again?” Kakashi asked.

“Yeah give me a minute.”

“Me too,” Kakashi said they rested for a while against each other. Kakashi moved first; he grabbed Iruka’s face and began kissing him, passionately, hot, all tongue, nasty, sexually, naughty. Iruka felt Kakashi get hard inside of him and he gasped at the feeling as he got hard soon after. “Sit up,” 

Iruka did as he was told. 

“Don’t move,” Kakashi commanded, he sat up as well, putting his back up against the armchair. “If I feel you thrust, or grind I will stop having sex with you immediately, got it?”

“Yes,” Iruka said.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes sir,” Iruka corrected.

Kakashi shook his head, “Yes Kakashi,” he corrected him further.

“Yes Kakashi,” Iruka tried it out, he didn’t hate it.

“I’m going to touch and kiss you as much as I want,” Kakashi said, and with that, he pulled Iruka in close and kissed him. It started sweet as his hands rubbed his butt to his back over and over. It grew heated as Iruka slid his tongue in, and devoured Kakashi. Knowing it was the best and only way for him to assert his dominance Kakashi allowed it. His hands moved to tease Iruka’s nipples causing the man to gasp and break the rhythm of the kiss; although he was careful not to move his hips.

Kakashi pulled at Iruka's nipples teasingly, not enough to hurt. He brought their lips together and rubbed the hard nubs with his thumbs over and over. Iruka was nearly shaking at the pleasure. Kakashi lowered one of his hands to touch Iruka’s abs. Then he let his hands wander touching the younger man all over; his thighs, his already full hole, his nipples, his back, his chest, his belly button. Kakashi was everywhere, he was consuming him with a hot kiss and hands. He was trying to memorize the feeling, they were becoming one.

Iruka felt himself drawing closer, didn’t know this nothing but everythingness alone would cause him to feel this way. “Everything feels so good right now," Iruka whispered.

“Yeah?” Kakashi asked.

“Yeah.” And then in a fast motion Kakashi flipped them. Iruka's butt was on the arm rest and for half a second his back was floating on thin air, he grabbed at Kakashi’s back accidentally scratching him.

“You’re not going to fall, I got you.” Kakashi said, and then he began thrusting hard and deep, and Iruka’s hands faltered. Iruka leaned down, his hands reached the ground below as Kakashi fucked into him. It felt...fantastic. He hooked his legs around Kakashi’s back as the man thrust into him with reckless abandon. He was getting his back blown out, in more ways than one, although the stretch was actually quite satisfying. Iruka didn’t know he could feel like this, he felt like he was flying. It didn’t take long, and the kissing had gone on for so long both of them were close. Iruka came first again, much to his dismay, his own cum came flying down on him and he gave himself a half facial on accident. Kakashi finished inside of him a moment later. He picked Iruka and leaned back onto the couch. They fell together, clashing but not hurting one another, vibing. 

“What have you done to me?” Iruka asked.

“What have I done?” Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It appears that I’ve caught feelings.” Iruka blurted out without thinking and was greeted with a happy smile on Kakashi’s face. It was...beautiful. Iruka leaned forward and kissed him. Kakashi had feelings for him, he already knew that...it was nice...it felt really good to share feelings with someone like this. It felt like...his own slice of...he yawned and was being carted off to dreamland...it felt like heaven.

He was sticky and he smelled, and his mouth tasted like dick. He was in his own bed now and Kakashi was next to him. He got out of bed and rushed bathroom. He turned on the water and grabbed his toothbrush. He brushed as the water got warm and then he jumped in. He washed his ass out and then scratched the now wet crust off of his body. It was...gross! 

The shower opened and Kakashi got in behind him. “Sorry, I should have cleaned you off. I was exhausted last night, ” Kakashi apologized with a yawn. He lathered his hands with soap and began to help him in his quest. 

Without thinking Iruka leaned back into his touch and hummed, “We have feelings for one another.” he said with a look of awe in his face. Kakashi hugged him, and they swayed back and forth in the shower.

“We do,” Kakashi agreed, “I want to...be your boyfriend...I want us to be boyfriends. I...if you don’t want-”

Iruka knew he was being impulsive but...he wanted to be happy. He turned around and kissed Kakashi deeply (his breath tasted like ass btw), “I do, I want to...let’s be boyfriends.”

“Wow,” Kakashi looked happy, “we’re in an exclusive relationship. We’re exclusive.”

“Yup, you and me.” Iruka hugged him tightly. “You and me.”

They got dressed (Iruka made Kakashi brush his teeth with a clean toothbrush) and Kakashi made them breakfast; they had to get to work soon. They were eating as they slide their shoes on. “You realize that going up against Orochimaru, by yourself, without any help, is stupid right?” Kakashi asked, it was random but Iruka had known that Kakashi was thinking about it.

Iruka hummed, “Are you trying to argue with me, two minutes from when we need to leave from work.”

“No, I don’t want to argue,” Kakashi disagreed, “I just...I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Iruka said, “I know what I’m doing.”

“We can do it for you,” Kakashi said clearly frustrated.

“Who is we?” he asked knowing he wouldn’t get an answer.

“I can’t say.”

“You want to do it without me.” Iruka clarified for him.

“We want to see Orochimaru brought to justice.” Kakashi said softly, “I don’t know what you’re fighting for.”

“I’m fighting to get Raido back and that’s all. I can do it alone.”

“While you get Raido back, Orochimaru is going to getaway. You realize that right?” Kakashi pointed out then sighed, “but fine. I think you’re being unreasonable but...this conversation is private, no one will know I just...if you need help...call me, okay?” Iruka hummed but didn’t answer, Kakashi grabbed his arm, “Promise me.”

Iruka nodded his head, “If I need help I will call you, I promise.”

Kakashi kissed him deeply before they left the apartment and they ran right into Sasuke and Itachi. 

“So you’re actively sleeping with Kakashi?” Sasuke asked unimpressed and not holding back at all. “It wasn’t a one time thing?”

“You’re sleeping together?” Itachi asked, surprised it was clearly news to him.

“We’re boyfriends,” Kakashi said and put his hands in his pockets. 

“Boyfriends?” Sasuke and Itachi said together.

“Yes, but we’re keeping it quiet for now so don’t tell anyone.” Iruka pipped up and elbowed Kakashi slightly.

“Does Naruto know?” Sasuke asked.

“Not yet,” Iruka said, “I want them to meet in person first.”

Itachi had been silent for a while now, “Kakashi, perhaps we should head to work now.” he decided.

“Right,” Kakashi agreed and they walked off side by side.

“Are you ready to go?” Iruka turned to Sasuke. 

“Yes,” Sasuke said. They said goodbyes to one another and then Sasuke hopped into Iruka's car. They drove to work together, a quiet car ride as usual. When they entered the office Sasuke sped up a little bit and spoke to Shikamaru before Iruka could enter his office. Iruka noticed Shikamaru staring at him with a look of surprise. Iruka had a twinge in his neck.

“Kakashi?” Shikamaru asked. “Really?”

“Sasuke,” Iruka complained, “I told you not to tell anyone. I’m not ready to tell Asuma.”

“I won’t tell,” Shikamaru promised. “But seriously...Kakashi? I didn't think you were interested in dating. If you wanted a boyfriend, I could have set you up. I have a cousin who actively has a crush on you.”

“I could have set you up too!” Sasuke agreed, "I know this guy who-"

“I made my decision, thank you. Get to work.” Iruka said sternly, making the boys chuckle amongst themselves.

Work was distracting because all he could think about was last night. He was...happy. He felt good, it felt positive. It felt like a cool breeze on a warm day. He didn’t know why he stopped himself from feeling this way. It’s been a minute but he actually felt satisfied with his life choices. All it took was some bombtastic sex and all his apprehensions had faded away...was he easy? Oh well, it’s too late to think about that now. He paused for a moment, he didn’t want anything to come between him and Kakashi which means...it means he has to get Raido out tonight. Or tomorrow, he had to get this over with, and Kakashi may have been right this morning. He can’t do it alone.


	6. Chapter 6

“Thanks for coming so last minute,” Iruka said as Kotetsu and Izumo entered his apartment. Iruka closed the door gently behind them. He took a deep breath then, before they got too comfortable, Iruka pushed Izumo against the wall. He pulled a knife out and pressed it against his friend's hip. He was panicky, he accidentally cut him open just slightly; the tip of the blade was already inside of him. Izumo cried out, in surprise more than pain.

“Iruka what the fuck?” Kotetsu said before Izumo did.

“Stay back,” Iruka threatened, and his voice held no room for questions. “Izumo slowly take your cell phone out and drop it. Do as I say, now. If you try anything funny, I will kill you.”

Izumo did as he was told, taking his cell phone out and dropping it: it hit the ground with a thud. Iruka kicked it, it slides across the floor and hides under the couch. Iruka pulled back just slightly than slammed his fist into the side of his friend's head knocking him out instantly.

“Iruka, what the fuck?” Kotetsu asked; he looked emotionally distraught.

Iruka twisted the knife in his hand, “Do the same thing, drop your phone.” Kotetsu did as he was told, and kicked it himself.

“Come on, help me pick Izumo up.”

“What, seriously?” Kotetsu asked.

“Yes, I’ll explain in the car.” They rolled Kotetsu’s body up in a rug and carried him downstairs and put him into the trunk of Iruka's car. “I took out the emergency cord so he can’t pull himself free. I mean that and he’s wrapped in a hard af carpet.” He slammed the trunk closed.

“Hey Iruka!” A cheerful voice called out from behind him. Iruka froze, this was horrible timing!

It was Naruto, he was home at last. Jiraiya was in the car looking at Iruka suspiciously. “Kotetsu, go wait in the front seat.” Iruka gave him a serious look and his voice was ice cold. Kotetsu nodded and did as he was told, giving Naruto a little wave in the process. It looked like Kotetsu was just giving them some privacy instead of hiding in a car in fear.

Iruka hugged Naruto tightly, and they swayed back and forth. He helped Naruto get his suitcases from the car, and hugged Jiraiya. They went through a small conversation.

“We’ll have to catch up soon,” he said to the older man. “I’ll see you later.” They watched Jiraiya drive off.

“Naruto, Raido was taken by Orochimaru. I’m on my way to rescue him right now. Go wait with Sasuke and Itachi so that you’re not alone.”

“Wait, Orochimaru?” Naruto knew everything about Iruka’s history with him. He knew about the box, he knew the code words, he knew everything. Iruka thought that someone should know. That and they both came across a little secret they have to take with them to the grave. “What? I’ll come, I’ll help you.”

“No, I forbid it.” He kissed Naruto’s forehead and pulled him in for a hug. “Go upstairs. I’ll be back in, the day after tomorrow.”

“That’s too long,” Naruto said: he was instantly distressed. “Please take me with you. I can help.”

“No.” Iruka responded, “I’m going to Safehouse 7D. Goodbye, I’ll come home safe. I’ll come home to you.”

“You better.” Naruto looked like he wanted to cry but he held it together and squeezed Iruka tightly. “I love you.”

Iruka took a deep breath, he had to come home, he had to be safe. “I love you too Naruto.” He watched the teen gather his suitcases up and walk towards their apartment. Iruka got into his car, pulled out of his parking spot. They were on the way.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Kotetsu yelled.

“Izumo’s been lying to us,” Iruka said, his voice calm, “he’s working for someone. There are other units, I don’t know how many, he’s been reporting our actions back to them. We’ve been wondering for years if there were other units, and there are. This whole time he knew and he kept it from us.”

“That can’t be true.” Kotetsu protested, “We live together I would know-”

“Why? Because you guys are fucking again?” Iruka asked, it came out harsher than he intended. “He obviously hasn’t told you everything, and he hasn’t told me shit about it either.”

“We’re not fucking.” Kotetsu said, “We’re dating.”

“Are you serious?” Iruka asked, a little thrown off, “Since when?”

“We’ve been dating since a month before your Dad died," Kotetsu admitted.

Iruka’s heart was leaping out of his chest, “You guys had sex with me.” It was a fact he tried to forget often because...they shouldn’t have crossed that line. “You wouldn’t have done that unless-”

“You needed us and we were there for you,” Kotetsu responded.

“What the fuck?” Iruka felt like throwing up, “That’s sick, you guys shouldn’t have. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were a fuckin mess, and you still are. You never even dealt with his death-”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Iruka yelled, “We’re not doing this right now. The point of the matter is that Izumo is reporting to someone about our actions. Did you know about it or not?”

“I didn’t, because he’s not doing it.” Kotetsu was angry. “Also you’re acting fuckin psychotic right now. We still love you, but seriously, you're scaring us.”

“I’m not psychotic,” Iruka sighed, “Whatever just shut up.” They went to the safehouse, a remote cabin with excellent wifi, and carried the rug inside together. When they opened it up Izumo was awake and staring at them. He sat up slowly.

“Can we talk about what you just did?” Izumo asked after a moment of silence.

“I know that you’ve been reporting my actions to someone else,” Iruka explained. “I mean you broke into my house to try to find evidence. It was pretty obvious, and I found stuff in Asuma’s desk that confirms this.”

Izumo looked at Kotetsu and then back at Iruka, “You’re right.”

“Excuse me?” Kotetsu asked. “Izumo what the fuck? So what? There are other units out there?”

“Yes,” Izumo said, “the organization asked me to join. I told them I was already apart of a unit, they said they knew. I didn’t have a choice, I felt like I was being threatened.”

“You betrayed us!” Kotetsu cried out, “How could you?”

“We are doing good work,” Izumo said, “but we need someone to check us and keep us in control. It’s been good so far.”

“Shut up,” Iruka said, “let’s forget about all this. We are going to get Raido out, and we’re doing it as soon as possible, tonight even. I know where he is being held, and we’re doing a sting operation." He pulled out a large duffel bag. "Kotetsu I need you to hack into the security cameras; I’ve done the first part for you." He handed Kotetsu a secure laptop. "Izumo, I have blueprints of the building, you’re going to tell me how to get in and out without being caught." He handed the map to Izumo. "I don’t know exactly where he is being held but I am going in alone. You too are waiting in the car until further notice.”

“Excuse me?” Izumo asked, “You’re going inside? That’s dangerous! That’s not what we do.”

“Orochimaru will not let me be harmed,” Iruka said, they didn’t know the history and he was never going to tell them. “Trust me on that, okay?”

“Okay,” they said after a moment, in accidental unison.

“Get to work. I’m going to take a nap,” he told them and moved to the bedroom to rest.

**********************************************************************

"Orochimaru you're turning 18 next week!" Kohari hugged the boy and moved to sit on the couch next to her husband. "We're going to miss you but college is going to be amazing. Are you sure you don't want us to help you move into your next apartment?"

Four-year-old Iruka was pulling on his big brother's pants demanding to be picked up. Orochimaru picked up the small boy in his arms. "I'm sure," he insisted. He was finally branching out to do his own research in a lab, the Umino's didn't know this of course. He pulled up Iruka's shirt and blew into his stomach causing the little boy to laugh maniacally.

Ikkaku smiled, "You're going to do great out there. If all else fails you can always go to the police academy and become a detective like me! Working for Sarutobi is amazing, it's like being a part of a family!"

Orochimaru smiled, the Umino's had no idea that he was already the biggest drug dealer in town. They didn't know a lot of things, still, they loved Orochimaru unconditionally. Sarutobi on the other hand was on his tail, it was part of the reason he needed to disappear for a bit. He had the newly-weds Tsunade and Jiraiya in the palm of his hand. He met Jiraiya at college (the man needed as much tutoring as possible). They became fast friends (although Orochimaru was a teenager and Jiraiya was a young adult). Jiraiya had a massive crush on Tsunade for years but they only started dating a year after they graduated (a year after her fiance Dan died). She was currently in medical school and Jiraiya had finished the police academy; he was now working on being a detective. His friendship with the two of them made it easy to avoid any police suspicion. If only Sarutobi wasn't on his tail.

He held Iruka closer for a moment, becoming distracted by his thoughts. He didn’t notice that Ikkaku and Kohari had slipped away, his thoughts were on the sweet (and sticky) baby scent of Iruka’s hair as the toddler held him close. 

"We bought you something MaruMaru!" Ikkaku sat down next to him. The man handed him a neatly wrapped gift, in Christmas-themed wrapping paper, while taking Iruka from his arms. He raised an eyebrow at the paper but Ikkaku was too busy beaming to notice.

He opened the present and immediately felt his heart weep. It was a college prepare kit. It had the basics: notebooks, bandaids, a keychain, a reusable water bottle, fancy pens, pencils, flip flops, hair ties, a sleep mask, earplugs, some of his favorite snacks, etc.. He wanted to cry. "Thank you guys so much," Orochimaru responded. As he looked closer he noticed that each item had sticky notes with stickers and encouraging sayings on them. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. If ever he had a weakness, it was this family.

"Here MaruMaru!" Iruka spoke in his sweet little voice and handed Orochimaru another box. He opened it and was surprised to find a nice looking watch with the Umino family symbol on the face.

A tear did indeed slide down his eye.

"You are a part of our family Orochimaru." Kohari said, "We wanted you to have a piece of us as you go to college. We love you, stay in touch."

This was the only moment in his life where Orochimaru began to regret all of his life choices: the lying, the hiding, the drug dealing, his immoral experiments. It all resulted in the need for him to run away from the cops and maybe never return. The gravity of what he was losing in this moment was hitting him, hard. It took everything inside of him not to break down bawling and confess his sins. "Thank you," he said, managing to keep his voice from cracking as he hugged the three of them tightly. "I love you guys too."

(A week later)

"Boss, may I speak with you?" some worm (subordinate) spoke to him.

"What is it?" Orochimaru asked.

"We got word that some family got wiped out in a car accident," he responded. "Requesting permission to ransack the house?"

"Any other information," Orochimaru asked, "anyone survive? What was the Father's occupation? I don't want any trouble like last time." A firefighter died in a fire (ironic), and during his memorial Orochimaru had his boys raid the house. There was a literal riot when news got out of what they did. Orochimaru was sure that was one of the reasons Hiruzen Sarutobi was trying so hard to track him down.

"Yeah, a little boy was taken to the hospital. The Father was a detective, a really good one, he's the one who caught our rival two months ago."

Orochimaru stopped working on his..."patient" (experiment), his heart lurched, "Ikkaku Umino?" he asked.

"Yeah that's him, he and his wife died. Their son is in the hospital."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth, "You do not have permission to ransack the house," He stated. "We can’t go after a detective right now." He tore off his gloves, his heart was racing, he had to get to the hospital. His patient(experiment) was going to fail (die) but it's not like he cared about their life anyway. "What hospital was the child taken to?" He barely heard the response but as soon as he got it he left immediately; he had to save his baby brother, that was all that mattered.

He snuck into the room the child, his brother, his only family, was being kept in. Iruka was sleeping, he had stitches across his face. Orochimaru picked up the sleeping child, and was already planning his escape when the door opened. He froze...he had been too careless and too desperate; he had to take Iruka with him, they were family. 

"Orochimaru?" the voice sent chills down his spine.

He turned around to face him, "Hiruzen-sensei." He faced the man who had given him his start. The man who had noticed how smart he was and informed his parents. The man who had supported him and built him for greatness until the age of ten. Hiruzen had "seen something" in Orochimaru that let him know that he "didn't have a good heart". His parents were freaked out, they had tried signing him up for therapy and ethics classes but they were so scared of him; they abandoned him. Orochimaru hunted his parents down and killed them...and he got away with it. Sarutobi had tried everything to pin the crime on him but he failed, and he feels that failure acutely. Orochimaru was given to his GrandFather. The old man and Orochimaru set up an agreement; he would send Orochimaru money to survive and pay his bills if he left him alone. He knew his GrandFather had known what he had done. He knew that Sarutobi was the man who had told him. The man standing in the room with him had ruined his life; he held the innocent child in his arms tighter.

"Put the child down," the man spoke quietly.

"No, I'm...I'm taking him with me." Orochimaru declared. "Don't stand in my way."

"That's kidnapping."

"Our parents are dead!" Orochimaru was letting his emotions get the better of him, he took a deep breath to cool himself down. "He's an orphan, I'm going to raise him."

"No, you're not." Hiruzen responded. "You're going to put the child down and walk away. That’s all I ask. Do as I say and I'm not going to arrest you tonight." Orochimaru was trapped, he held onto the child even tighter. "You didn't think this through," Hiruzen's voice was calm, "you're not equipped to raise this child, you're a child yourself."

Orochimaru took a deep breath again, he put the child down, the deep sleeper hadn't stirred a wink. "I'm going to come back for him," Orochimaru promised.

"And you'll have to deal with me when you do," Sarutobi replied. "I wish I had been blind to the darkness you carry. I wish I hadn't found you covered in blood experimenting on dogs, and cutting up cats to bits in that little shed of yours. I meant to stop you before you got worse but now...you're a monster. The Umino's had good hearts, they were good people. You're Maru, the teen Ikkaku always spoke of, if I had known…” he paused, “I will not let you corrupt Iruka. If you ever try to come back for him, you will have to deal with me. And this time you won't get away...with anything."

Orochimaru chuckled, this man was absolutely ridiculous. He turned sad a moment later when he gazed at his little brother. Fast asleep without a care in the world. He squeezed the child's hand, he leaned down to kiss his forehead and pinch his cheeks. The stitches would leave a scar, right across the middle of his face. But...Iruka still looked adorable. He held in his tears as he stood up; he brushed past Hiruzen, and left the building. The next thing he knew, Hiruzen had adopted Iruka and his plan to come back for the child got a lot more complicated.

***************************************************************************************

“Iruka, wake up,” Kotetsu whispered, softly shaking the man.

“I’m up,” Iruka sat up.

Izumo was next to him, on his other side. “I’m sorry,” Izumo said. His voice was sincere, and he looked truly sorry. “For everything. I shouldn’t have...I thought I was doing the right thing but you guys are my family and-”

“I was too hard on you," Iruka cut him off. "I was upset.”

“Everything is done,” Kotetsu interjected. 

“What time is it?” Iruka asked. 

“It’s a little after two am,” Izumo said, his hand found the inside of Iruka’s thigh and he began to rub it gently.

He was getting deja-vu, just like last time Kotetsu moved forward to kiss him, pressing their lips together. It felt...good, Iruka breathed in the kiss. Kotetsu moved back and Izumo took his place. Kotetsu’s hands began working on his zipper, and as he was kissing Izumo he felt cool air on his dick, along with Kotetsu’s warm hand.

“Stop,” he grabbed Kotetsu’s wrist and put a hand on Izumo’s chest. “I umm,” this was wrong.

“We love you Iruka.” Izumo said, putting his arms around Iruka’s middle and holding him tightly, “I want to sit on your cock.”

“And I want my cock inside of you,” Kotetsu said. “It’ll feel good. We want you to remember to come back to us safely.”

“I will,” Iruka patted Izumo’s back and squeezed Kotetsu’s hand: which was now free of his dick. “I just...I’m seeing someone.”

“Who?!” they said in union with skepticism.

“I have a boyfriend,” Iruka said. “It’s new but...I really like him.”

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Iruka. “Please have sex with us,” Kotetsu said. “We won’t tell anyone, it’s just...come on, it’s great whenever you join us. We,”

“We both really like you Iruka.” Izumo said. “We...want you to join us.”

“I’m not doing that.” Iruka said, “We agreed that us having sex was a mistake.”

“It messed up our relationship at first,” Izumo turned to Kotetsu. “Because we were both insecure in our relationship. But now we are great...we also realized that we both have feelings for you.”

“Stop,” Iruka disagreed. “I just,”

“What, you don’t feel the same way?” Kotetsu asked, “If you don’t be honest.”

“Our connection is strong,” Iruka said. “I just...I never saw myself being in a threesome relationship. And I like what I have with Kakashi, right now.”

“Kakashi?” Kotetsu asked, surprised. Iruka stopped holding Kotetsu’s hand to put his dick back in his pants. He hadn’t meant to spill his name yet.

“As in Kakashi Hatake?” Izumo added.

“Yes, Kakashi Hatake,” Iruka responded. “I mean guys, we would be amazing. But I need someone to balance me out, and all you guys do is hype me up.”

“Wow, you really really like him,” Izumo said and he kissed Iruka’s cheek. “Man I was really excited to have sex with you.”

“I was too.” Kotetsu huffed, “But we’re really happy for you honestly.”

“You guys are great together by the way,” Iruka said. “Seriously now that I know the two of you are together it’s...perfect.”

They held hands and stared at each other for a moment before getting off Iruka’s bed. “Thank you,” they said together.

“Let’s go,” Iruka said, “I have a change of black clothes for all of us. He hugged Izumo tightly, “I’m not mad at you anymore but we will be discussing this further.”

“Alright.” Izumo hugged him back, “Kakashi is a lucky man, have you guys had sex yet?”

“Yup,” Iruka said.

“I bet it’s really hot,” Kotetsu said, “Do you give it to him good? Or have you decided to bottom for someone other than me?”

“He bottomed for Genma too.” Izumo reminded him. “Hey remember when you dated Genma?”

“Get your head out of the gutter guys, we need to focus,” Iruka said firmly. The two of them were both too horny to concentrate. Iruka was thinking about finding some cold water to dump on them. He changed into a black hoodie and black leggings. Under his clothes he had knee pads and shoulder pads for comfort purposes only. He put his hair back into a low bun, and made sure his earpiece was firmly planted. They tested the volume before getting in the car.

“You’re in the cameras? I thought they would have kicked you out.” Iruka checked Kotetsu’s laptop as the man sat in the front seat. Izumo began driving. Iruka was in the backseat hyping himself up. Rap music was playing lowly in the background, it always got them in the mood for doing this kind of crazy shit.

“We haven’t discussed rescue plans in case something goes wrong,” Izumo said. 

“Nothing is going to go wrong,” Iruka said confidently.

“It’s stupid not to have a plan,” Izumo chastised. 

“I have a plan so don’t worry about it," Iruka tried to comfort them. "Raido is going to get out safely.”

“Are you going to get out safely?” Kotetsu asked, incredulously. “Is Orochimaru going to get away?”

“Orochimaru would never hurt me,” Iruka pointed out, “and our department or whatever organization Izumo’s a part of can try but no plan could ever defeat Orochimaru. That man is always on the winning team.”

“So we aren’t even going to try?” Izumo asked.

“It’s pointless,” Iruka responded.

“You’re not…” Kotetsu paused. “You’re not coming home with us are you.”

“Of course, I am.” he lied. Orochimaru has a plan, and his plan includes me. Iruka just knew it.. “Let’s focus on getting Raido out safely.” I’ll be back hopefully tomorrow, he thought, less than a week, a month at most. I don’t know what’s in store for me but I’m not scared.

Kotetsu and Izumo held hands during the drive. It was a clear sign. Iruka knew he was scaring them: but, he also knew that they trusted him. They discussed the plan in length until no one was confused about anything. They were silent as they pulled up to the location, the rap music which was turned up was the only thing playing. Izumo turned it off now.

Iruka put his hand on the handle, “Are we ready?”

“Yes,” Kotetsu responded, “I still have access to the security cameras. Like I said I can only see hallways, not rooms, we don’t know where Raido is being held.”

“I will guide you through it,” Izumo said. “Just like we discussed. You got your lock picking kit?”

“I got it,” Iruka put his hand on the handle. “Under no circumstances are you guys to come in after me, got it?” Iruka said softly.

“We got it.” Izumo whispered, and Kotetsu nodded his head. 

“Wait,” Kotetsu couldn’t help himself. “Should we be doing this?” he asked. “This is crazy, we’ve never done anything this big. Doesn’t this all seem a little too easy, somethings wrong. Maybe we should tell Izumo’s organization.”

“No,” Izumo responded. “Iruka has to do this. We got your back.”

Iruka squeezed their shoulders and slid out their car. It was heavily guarded but it didn’t matter. He knew knockout techniques, and he had his knife in case something went wrong. He wasn’t planning on getting the attention of a lot of guards. He snuck up near the entrance, got the attention of two guards, and knocked them quickly and efficiently. He entered the building, keeping close to the wall. It was dark, dim lights were all this abandoned warehouse had as far as lighting goes.

“One guard coming on our left,” Izumo warned in his ear.

Iruka entered the hallway fist first, connecting easily with the guard's face. “Where’s the vent we discussed,” he whispered.

“Keep going forward,” Izumo directed and Iruka obeyed. “It’s above you.”

Iruka got a running start and jumped off one wall to reach the other. His hand grabbed the vent, and he very uncomfortably hung from his fingertips as his other hand used a screwdriver to undo the screw keeping it up. It opened and before he could fall he flung inside feet first and closed the vent door behind him. “Directions,” he demanded.

Iruka crawled through the vents, they checked out different rooms. Iruka saw far too many disturbing things. Thankfully some of the rooms were empty or just full of paperwork or technology. On the seventh try, he came across the right one. It looked like a jail cell of sorts. Raido was alone and unguarded, his feet were bound and so were his hands. He was on his back, completely naked. He was thin and dirty, and nearly recognizable but Iruka knew it was him. “I found him,” he whispered. “I definitely think I’m about to run into a trap.”

“Iruka, I think our system got hacked, we're-” Izumo started and then it cut off completely. Iruka took a deep breath, he hoped his friends were okay. He undid the vent and dropped down. As soon as he did, the door opened.

“Iruka, I’m glad you could make it.” Orochimaru himself appeared. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I know,” Iruka sighed, “I...you can take me wherever you want, I just...let me get Raido out of here.”

“Of course,” Orochimaru said and clapped his hands, and two bodyguards came in behind him and grabbed Raido. “Bring him to the car we noticed earlier. Don’t hurt any of them, let them all leave unharmed.”

Raido broke from his unconsciousness, his bleary eyes found a familiar form, “Iruka!” he yelled; well, tried to yell. “Iruka, what are you-”

“I’m here to save you. Kotetsu and Izumo are waiting in the car. You’re going home. Genma is waiting for you.” Iruka responded.

“Genma,” Raido said softly. He reached a weak hand toward's Iruka, “Come with me.”

“I can’t,” Iruka said and watched the worry cross Raido’s face. “Don’t worry about me, please just get better.” The guards pulled Raido out of the room before he could say anything else. 

Orochimaru held up a pair of car keys, “Shall we go for a drive?”

Iruka nodded, for the sake of his friends...he had to do this...alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Someone was knocking at the door and he ran to fling it open. A strange-looking stranger was on the other side, “W-who are you?” Naruto asked confused.

“Kakashi,” Sasuke...greeted him? He had moved to stand beside Naruto, “What are you doing here?”

“Naruto," Kakashi would recognize Minato's son anywhere. "It’s nice to finally meet you.” Kakashi stuck out his hand.

“Yeah, whatever, who are you?” Naruto asked again.

Itachi came over to the door, “Let Kakashi inside,” he told them and the two boys stood aside. Kakashi entered, something was off the boys were on edge. Itachi closed and locked the door behind him. “Naruto you can’t just open the door without seeing who it is,” He reprimanded the teen.

“Where is Iruka?” Kakashi asked casually, he was getting worried.

“He’s,” Naruto faltered.

“He went to go save Raido from Orochimaru,” Itachi filled in.

“What?” Kakashi asked emotions flaring through him. He thought he had a few more days! He thought he could convince Iruka to change his mind! He had a plan, after some cuddling and emotional manipulation Iruka would admit to needing help. Kakashi and the orginization would step in and take over. Orochimaru would go to jail but now...this was...so unexpected. Was Iruka okay? “A-are you serious?”

“Yes,” Sasuke responded in a distant voice. “He left yesterday evening with Kotetsu and Izumo. We tried to calling but all of their phones are still in this apartment.”

“Izumo has a backup phone," Kakashi remembered. He raced to Iruka’s bedroom for some privacy, slamming the door behind him. He sat on the bed and called the backup phone, his heart was racing. He hoped Izumo had the phone on him. Kakashi needed to jump into action, he was ready to go save his man.

Izumo picked up on the third ring, “Hey,” he sounded tired.

“Is that a cell phone?” he heard Kotetsu speak in the background. “We could have-”

“I’m not going to lie, I completely forgot I had this thing," Izumo admitted then spoke into the phone “Who is this?”

“Hatake Kakashi,” he responded. “Zebras have golden stripes.” He said the code phrase.

“Got it,” he replied, “Izumo here. What’s up?”

“What’s up?! What happened? Where is Iruka?” Kakashi asked, panicked; he was also annoyed at Izumo’s casual tone.

“We went to the secret location to rescue Raido at 3am. Iruka went in alone. Raido was brought out to us and we drove to the closest hospital. Wow, is it 6am already?” He yawned, “Raido is recovering. Iruka is...Iruka left with Orochimaru, none of us have heard from him since.”

“Shit! Does anybody know? Did you tell anyone? Did you have backup?” Kakashi bombarded him with questions.

“No, it was just the three of us,” Izumo confessed.

“Stay on the line,” he put Izumo on hold and called Asuma. He and Asuma had been investigating the situation; the whole investigative company had been planning for the perfect time to take Orochimaru down. It wasn't supposed to go like this, Iruka was basically a rogue agent. Asuma answered and he added him to the call. Then he called the big boss, Tsunade. She answered right away and he added her to the call as well. “Izumo give a full report,” Kakashi demanded.

In a strangely calm voice, Izumo gave a full rundown of the situation. Tsunade and Asuma were pissed, to say the least.

“Why didn’t you fuckin ask for backup?” Asuma asked.

“We had the situation handled.” Izumo tried.

“You call my brother going missing having the situation handled?” Asuma yelled.

“Shit,” Tsunade cursed, “Asuma calm down. We have to send some agents out to the location. Izumo, do you remember where it is?”

“Yes,” he responded. “It’s not like an exact address, but I know how to drive there, I can give directions.”

“Someone will pick you up shortly,” Tsunade directed. “Someone call Genma and inform him about Raido’s condition. Asuma set up a quick task force, we have to find Iruka, he’s not safe.”

“Got it,” Kakashi and Asuma said in unison.

Just before the call ended Izumo spoke up again. “We believe that he’s taking Iruka to the Midnight Wolf.”

Everyone was silent, Kakashi spoke up first, "The Midnight Wolf? What is that?" Was this above his clearance level?

Asuma took a deep breath, "This is...really bad."

Kakashi asked again, "What is the Midnight Wolf?"

Tsunade spoke up after a moment's pause, "Orochimaru once recruited Iruka to join his gang. He was young, I believe he was eight. He took Iruka to this place called the Midnight Wolf, it's where he implements his worst experiments. The thing is that no one knows where the location of that place is. I'll send a unit out to investigate his hideout but...as much as I hate to say this, we just have to trust Iruka on this one."

"What?" Kakashi asked. "You can't be serious? He is in danger!"

"Orochimaru would never harm Iruka," Izumo said in a matter of fact voice.

"Iruka told us to trust him," Kotetsu agreed. Kotetsu was not supposed to be on the call, and he certainly wasn't supposed to be listening in. "He said he'll only be gone a day at most. We have to call Naruto and-"

"I'll take care of Naruto," Kakashi responded.

"Okay I'm ending the call," Asuma said his voice full of detachment. A second later he hung up, ending the call for all of them

"Iruka," Kakashi whispered out into the open air, "I hope you know what you're doing."

************************************************************************************************

"I'm thrilled that you're here," Orochimaru spoke up as he drove his car, "I've missed you."

Iruka's expression was unreadable as he looked at Orochimaru, "I don't want to go back to that place...the things I've seen there, they still haunt me to this day."

"I told you not to go in that room," Orochimaru reminded him.

"I was eight years old!" Iruka exclaimed, "I...you kidnapped Sasuke."

"I gave him back, didn't I?" Orochimaru responded. “And I wiped his memory because I’m just that nice. He doesn't remember a thing. That was the last time we saw each other, a blessing in disguise.”

He remembered every minute of it. Finding out not that Sasuke ran away but rather that he got kidnapped. Twelve-year-old Naruto was with his side every step of the way. He found the warehouse a week later and demanded that Orochimaru let Sasuke go. Experiments, Orochimaru had been running experiments on him. Iruka...couldn't really interpret what he saw. Sasuke, naked, submerged in some liquid, hooked up to machines, a computer. Orochimaru had released him after Iruka pleaded to him. Naruto had been taken away by some guards in the process. Orochimaru was moved by Iruka's tears. He performed a mind-wipe on the boy, just like he had done to Anko. The only evidence of the mind wipe was a light scar on the right side of their neck. Anko, Sasuke, and who knew how many others still had that scar. Iruka was able to walk off with the boy in his arms, Naruto was shaking. They left him in an alley in the city. A cop found him and returned him home. Naruto and Iruka never mentioned the truth to anyone, and Sasuke didn't remember it.

"I didn’t have to do that," Orochimaru emphasized, "I did that because I love you. Besides, there is something I want to show you. I'm leaving tomorrow, your adopted Father’s secret agency is getting too close to my research once again."

"You realize that I barely remember my actual parents, don't you?" Iruka tried. "All I know is Hiruzen and Biwako."

"I remember your actual parents," Orochimaru replied, "they were...the best people on this planet. And you...their child...my brother, you are lucky to have come from them."

"That's how you got me to come with you when I was eight years old,” Iruka remembered. “I'm twenty-three now. That's not going to work anymore."

"No," Orochimaru responds, "I had to kidnap a co-worker this time."

Iruka rolled his eyes but remained quiet.

"I took Sasuke for my own purposes, that had nothing to do with you," Orochimaru responded. "I let him go only because you asked me too." He sighed, "Iruka we have strong family ties. I love you, and I know deep down you love me too."

"Hmmm," was all Iruka said, "I may have some feelings for you. But what if it's just Stockholm Syndrome."

"Love is love," Orochimaru pointed it out.

Iruka chuckled, "Love is love," he agreed. "Do you remember that one time you picked me up after school and-" They walked down memory lane. They had a lot of laughs and smiles together. Things were easy with Orochimaru. The man was the world's biggest criminal but...something about their souls was aligned. It felt like magnets whenever they were together. He still remembers being eight years old and looking up to this man as another Father figure. My parents knew and loved him, he would think. They trusted him. He wasn’t eight years old anymore. These feelings however real they were, weren’t okay to have. It was confusing and weird, Orochimaru was too young to be his Father. He tried to remember the anger he felt when he saw Sasuke suspended in a giant test tube. Tried to remember the fact that he broke down crying in front of the man and started begging for him to release Sasuke. He tried to remember that this man was a monster. But it’s hard when the man starts telling you stories about your real parents that you don’t even remember. How your Dad was incredibly funny, and your Mom was incredibly caring. How Iruka was just like them.

"We're here," Orochimaru, Iruka noted the sadness in his voice. "Before we go in, I have to tell you...I have a silent helicopter waiting for me and I am going to leave here without you."

"What?" Iruka asked, surprised. "I don't know how to drive back."

"I've worked that out already," Orochimaru promised. "Let's go, I have something for you."

They stepped out of the car together, and Iruka’s heart was hurting. Their time together was over. He is aiding a criminal mastermind, he’s letting him get away.

“Thanks for...reminding me of my family. Don't get me wrong I still don't...agree with...many things but it was nice to see you again," Iruka admitted.

Orochimaru gave a rare smile, and pressed a kiss to Iruka's forehead, "Let's go."

They entered the lab together, it was...still creepy...but not as bad as before. He held onto Orochimaru's hand as the man led him down the main hallway. "All other doors are locked," he warned as they passed quite a few doorways. They entered the door at the end of the hallway. The light hit him strangely, it took him a moment to place his surrounding...It was...a nursery. The lighting in the room was...off and it took a minute for Iruka's eyes to adjust.

"What is this?" Iruka asked.

"Hello Orochimaru-san." A woman woke up from a twin bed in the corner. She was wearing baggy pajamas, her black hair was in a messy bun, and she had pink slippers on her tiny feet. She was quite short and although she appeared unprofessional she held this air of professionalism...and fear. Her brown eyes looked at Iruka's face, and he gave her a smile. Orochimaru's right hand went straight in the air and something shot out of it. The woman screamed and that was the last sound she made as she dropped to the ground. Iruka let go of Orochimaru's hand and fell to the floor trying to help her.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay," he tried to provide comfort in her last moment. A snake had bitten down on her neck and was still hanging there. It was a Black Mamba hybrid; Orochimaru had bred them when Iruka was still a child, he remembered them. They were purple in color, he unlatched the snack. It slides back up to Orochimaru, crawling up his leg as the woman lay seizing and thrashing about for a full two minutes before finally dying. Iruka was speechless and he had tears in his eyes.

"MaruMaru?" a young voice spoke out into the room. Iruka acted on instinct as he positioned himself to keep the child from seeing the dead body. The light flickered on, and Iruka nearly jumped back from the child. He had silky black hair that hung straight down his back, but the rest of his face was eerily familiar. He had big brown eyes, a button nose, full lips, and rosy cheeks, he was...pale but his skin had notes of a brownish hue, similar to Iruka, actually he was...literally a mini Iruka with no scar, pale skin, and long black hair.

"Ruru," Orochimaru approached the child, "did the screaming wake you up?"

"Where is Ai?" the child (Ruru?) asked.

"Doesn't matter now, you will no longer be able to see her," Orochimaru responded. He stepped around the child and went over to a bassinet that was by the bed. He picked up a bundle, and walked over to hand it to Iruka. Iruka accepted it, still out of sorts and confused but now there was a baby in his arms. The baby was awake and fussing, and Iruka rocked up and down to soothe it without thinking. The baby was brown, with silver hair, and two blue eyes.

"W-what's going on?" Iruka asked as he managed to get the baby to stop crying.

"These children are my last gifts to you," Orochimaru responded. "I will not be in Konoha for a while, I may never return again."

"You're leaving?" Ruru asked.

"Yes," Orochimaru responded, and he picked up the child and hugged him tightly to his chest. "I will miss you Ruru," he whispered he pressed the child's head into his chest with his hand, and began to leave the room. "Come with us Iruka," Orochimaru said and they all filtered into the dimly lit hallway. Iruka realized Orochimaru had been hiding the murder from the boy. He placed the toddler on the ground for a moment. He pulled earmuffs out of nowhere and placed them on the toddler’s ears, effectively blocking his hearing.

"I created these children," he explained and pressed a button on the wall, two backpacks were hanging on racks. He grabbed the bigger one and handed it to Iruka, and the smaller one he held onto for now. "The research I am passing on to you. Along with some of Ruru's favorite things. I created a baby from two sperms."

Iruka felt his stomach lurch, "These children then," he hesitated, "are they mine?"

"They are," Orochimaru confirmed. "I got your DNA a long time again. Rukio was made from you and Sasuke, he is four years old. I got his DNA when I was experimenting on him. The Uchiha family is fascinating. Everyone in their main bloodline and sub bloodline is essentially a genius. Sasuke, even though he isn’t as smart as Itachi, is still higher than average. I figure it has something to do with genetics. Since you took away my lab rat this was all I could do. And once I mixed his DNA with yours it was over. Ruru became my son, I love him as one. A mini you, isn’t he perfect? The one in your arms is only a week old, he has no name. I was hired a long time ago to continue the Hatake line, this was back when I was working the black market. It was by an older noble woman who wanted to carry on tradition. I took the money and ran, when I entered town this time I found out that she was still alive. After some convincing she gave me even more money to continue the job. I only got Kakashi Hatake’s DNA quite recently. The child is still my gift to you, he comes from your DNA as well."

Iruka was speechless; he couldn't think of anything to say he couldn’t speak at all. Orochimaru put the backpack on the toddler. He then hugged Iruka tightly. "I am leaving now, as soon as you leave this building the police will be notified of your location. I love you Iruka.” He took the child’s ear muffs off. “I love you Ruru.” He hugged the boy tightly as if saying goodbye was breaking his heart. “Until we possibly meet again," He pressed kisses on Iruka's and Rukio's foreheads turned around, and then left the building.

Iruka's heart was pounding but he knew he had to be strong. He knelt down and held onto Rukio's hand. "Hi," Iruka said quietly, "I'm your Dad."

Rukio had tears flowing down his eyes, "I'm going to miss MaruMaru," he cried. His little toddler face was pushed together in agony; he threw himself at Iruka wrapping his little arms around his legs.

Iruka held him as he cried, "It's okay, you're going to come and live with me. I'm going to take care of you." He...he couldn't abandon his children. These children were his and Iruka was all they had. They were his responsibility now. They had to get out of here.

"Can you walk Rukio?" Iruka asked, he was now laying against the wall. The baby was sleeping and Rukio was on his way. His arms were a bit sore from holding the baby with one arm, and from the awkward angle Rukio was pressed up against his other arm. Rukio was almost sleeping but he was still awake. Iruka stood up and held the boy's hand, together the three of them walked out the building. Just as they passed the doorway Rukio pressed a button, set just his height, and the building rose up in flames behind them.

"Rukio? What did you just do?" Iruka asked.

"MaruMaru always says I can press the blue button when I finally leave with my Dad," Rukio said it very matter of factly. The police will be notified or your location, Orochimaru had said. The fire, it was going to be huge. 

Iruka couldn't help but smile, Orochimaru had gotten away again. All of that evidence was going up in flames. He picked Rukio up and got them far away from the fire. He was running for what felt like ever, it reminded him of before, when he was young. It had been a long drive in Orochimaru’s car, the car that was surprisingly missing. Iruka didn’t have his phone. The fire was slowly becoming a forest fire and he nimbly escaped with the children and backpacks in tow. He found an empty road and was standing on the side of it holding the two boys in his tired and sore arms.

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He was tired and sitting on the side of the road. Rukio had his feet on Iruka's lap and his body was against the forest floor, his head was resting on his backpack. The baby was awake and was staring up at Iruka. Iruka's arms were tired from holding him, his back was leaned against a tree. He felt exhausted, he looked back often to make sure the fire hadn't gotten close. They were on the side of the road but it was empty he was constantly looking for cars too. He kept hearing leaves rustling, animals must be fleeing the forest, and Iruka was worried some crazy animal might attack them. His mind was in overdrive.

"A truck!" Rukio stood up suddenly. Iruka stood up too, desperate to find some help. It was a fire truck, and a few cop cars, he noticed his brother Asuma's car in the fray which was...strange. Iruka flagged them all down, and the cars parked in the middle of the street.

"Iruka, thank kami you're alright!" Asuma basically jumped out of his car and hugged him tightly. Iruka breathed, feeling safe in his brother's arm. Iruka turned his attention to the cops who were trying to figure out a plan. It was a total of two cop cars, two firefighter vehicles, and two SWAT cars. By all accounts, Asuma shouldn't be here. "What happened? "

"Long story," Iruka said honestly, "I know I have to give a statement. But Asuma this is your nephew Rukio and your other nephew who doesn't have a name yet." He leaned forward and whispered in a low voice, "Orochimaru created these children in a lab, they both have my DNA. They are half mine."

"Holy shit," Asuma whispered. He got down to greet Rukio. "Hi Rukio, can you come with me for a moment."

"The baby?" Iruka asked.

"Oh right," Asuma held the baby, and grabbed the toddler's hand as he led them to his car. Iruka spent a good portion of time filling out a police report in great detail. He kept an eye on the firefighters as they moved deep in the forest to contain it. The police would try to find any evidence leftover in the building but Iruka was confident that there was nothing was left. Finally, he was allowed to go home. He filed into Asuma's car with the two children in tow. He entered his apartment feeling...miserable? Everything ached, from his head to his toes. Surprisingly his apartment was empty. “Kakashi, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto are buying some stuff for the children. The baby is still awake."

"I'll get him in a second." Iruka said as he went to place Rukio on his bed. He was thankful the boy was sleeping. He stripped the boy to his underwear and tucked him under the covers placing a kiss on his forehead. He was a Father now, the information didn't seem real. He went to the living room and sat down on the couch, next to Asuma. "Come here sweetheart," he said to his baby.

Asuma handed him the baby. "What's it like being a Father so suddenly," Asuma asked fondly, “You’re just like me now.”

"I've been a Father to Naruto for years," Iruka responded.

"Woah," Asuma said playfully, "don't let Dad hear you saying that." Of course, their Dad wasn’t alive but...it’s nice to bring him up sometimes instead of avoiding the subject.

Iruka chuckled and looked down at his little baby. He wasn't crying but he was awake. Staring at Iruka like it was normal. Iruka felt his eyes getting glassy and he shut them, "I watched a woman die today, and it keeps replaying in my mind over and over again. I keep thinking about how I could have helped her. Maybe if I didn't have Stockholm Syndrome I could have saved her. I'm a shit person Asuma, I...I actually had a good time with Orochimaru. I make the same mistakes over and over again. I realize that the person who cares so much about me and is so nice to me is literally the devil. She wasn't expecting to die, and I'm pretty sure Rukio has some emotions attached to her, and now she's gone and I'm going to have to explain that to him. I ruined things for you all, you were going to trap Orochimaru. If I hadn't gone to save Radio you guys probably would have saved him, and Orochimaru would be in prison, and maybe that woman would have found her way out with the two children and gotten some help. Or...all three of them would have died in there. What if Radio had died? I just, I knew that if it wasn’t me who found Raido than Orochimaru would have killed him. Could the code phrase be any more clear. I took a risk, and...now I have two children and I'm happy about that but like it also feels like none of this is real. I feel like my mind stopped processing everything after that lady died. I feel like my mind can't process anything and I'm just moving my body from place to place. I-"

"Iruka," Asuma cut him off and pulled him close: hugging him tightly. He shifted the baby out of their way and placed him in the very corner of the couch; so he was tucked in and safe. He held his brother tight, "You went through a lot just now. I was worried that you were going to die. Not only are you alive but now I have two new beautiful nephews. You saved Radio's life. Orochimaru got away but so what? He probably would have gotten away anyway; that slimy bastard. And someone did die tonight but you, Rukio, the baby, and Radio are alive. There was nothing you could have done differently. You're not a bad person, Iruka, you're the best. I still remember the day you came home with my Dad. I had something in my life that was missing, and it was you. I love being your older brother, you're the best person in the world. Don't feel bad Iruka, you went through something traumatic but I love you so much. I love, love, love you!"

"You must have been really scared," Iruka realized. He doesn't think he's ever heard speak to him like this. He thought I was going to die, Iruka realized. He thought about how he would feel if Asuma had done what he did. He hugged Asuma tighter. Neither of them released their hold.

"I hate Orochimaru." Asuma breathed.

"I...I think I do too." Iruka whispered. "My mind hurts."

"You need to rest," Asuma replied and released the hug. He reached over and held the baby, "I'm going to take care of the baby and wait for everyone to come home."

"Okay," Iruka responded, "I do need to sleep." He rose up, took a quick shower, changed into some boxers, and went to rest right next to Rukio.

When he woke up, he heard noises. He looked at the clock and jumped up, it was 4pm! He stopped to throw on some sweatpants and shot out the door.

Naruto was playing with Rukio, they had a collection of toys at their disposal. Kakashi was standing near them, the baby in his arms. Sasuke and Itachi were in the kitchen together moving in harmony, cooking something that smelled good. They all glanced over when they heard the door creak.

"Iruka!" Everyone (except the small children) rushed over to him. They all started talking at once and Iruka hugged them each individually, saving the baby for last and taking him in his arms.

"I'm starving," Iruka responded.

"Lunch is almost ready," Sasuke chimed in.

"It's Ramen, your favorite." Itachi said.

"Well, I'm very excited," Iruka smiled and rubbed his cheeks against the adorable cheeks of his baby. The child was one week old, he had to fill the child with enough love to make him feel safe and wanted, same with his four year old. Shit, he still can't believe he had children. Today was supposed to be a good day. Everyone is getting along, he's a Father to two new children. He's a Father to two new children!

He went to go sit on the couch with his baby. Kakashi sat down close to them...very close and it made Iruka feel comforted. He leaned his back up against Kakashi and the two of them looked down at the baby. He was adorable, his cheeks had the right amount of squish. His blue colored eyes were open, his little arms were in fists and he was staring up at them (without truly seeing them).

"What are you going to name him?" Kakashi asked and brought his hands to wrap around both of them. "Asuma, told us what happened."

"I don't know yet," Iruka said sadly. His baby didn't have a name, he should have spent time preparing but the baby was already here. He felt sick, he felt a headache forming.

Kakashi nodded his head, he wanted to throw a thousand different topics at Iruka but he also wanted to give the man a bit of a break. "I can watch Naruto for a bit."

"What?" Naruto asked, breaking up their little moment, "I don't want to leave my Dad! He needs me!" He spoke with so much passion and anger at the suggestion that Iruka almost flinched.

Iruka felt his brain shutting down, "Guys, please." Naruto was glaring at Kakashi madly, "It's okay Naruto, Kakashi was just trying to be helpful. I...of course you can stay, Naruto."

"Well, then I want to stay here with you," Kakashi remarked.

"Sure," Iruka said because he didn't care, he needed a break. He handed the baby to Naruto, who immediately began to cry.

"He doesn't like it when I hold him!" Naruto fussed. "He's been crying for hours, Kakashi just got him to settle down not that long ago."

"Is that true?" Iruka asked. "I didn't hear anything."

"You were tired," Kakashi responded, taking the fussy baby from Naruto. "Don't worry about it."

"No, it's my responsibility," Iruka took back the baby and then went to his room. He walked around his bedroom trying to comfort the baby. Step, bounce, step, bounce, step, bounce, it was easy to form a rhythm but the baby kept crying.

"Iruka the ramen's ready!" Naruto knocked on the door.

"Great, I'm coming," Iruka said, Kakashi popped in and closed the door behind him. Iruka was finally calming the baby down. "Kakashi, I-I can't do this."

"What's this?" Kakashi asked.

"Everything, there are so many people here! And I'm a Father! And I just woke up so I'm like weird and I'm stressed out! But like mentally I'm in a really bad place! I feel like I can't think! I feel like I have this cloud over my head and I can't think!" He had yelled, he didn't even notice it but he had yelled.

"Iruka?" Naruto asked as he opened the door.

"Guys why don't we...take the kids to the park and give Iruka a moment to himself," Kakashi suggested.

"I don't think he should be alone!" Naruto disagreed.

"Naruto," Sasuke stepped in holding Rukio in his arms, "let's go. We can come back."

"I-I'm sorry," Iruka apologized to them, "you're all really important to me I'm just...I don't know."

"Take a moment for yourself," Itachi said sweetly, "your ramen is prepared and we will leave it on the table."

Iruka gave Kakashi the baby with no fight and let them all leave until he was alone. He felt relieved, he felt like he could breathe. And then much to his surprise or unsurprise he began to cry. He grabbed his pillow and really just let it have it. He cried loud and ugly. He cried thinking about everything:the woman who died, crying over his companionship with Orochimaru, how he basically let the mastervillian go, how unprepared he was to now have to raise two children, the planning and parenting style he would need that he wasn't emotionally ready for, how much his life was changing, the sight of Radio when he first found him, the fear of almost dying, the guilt he felt for going behind Asuma’s back, the death of his Dad, the whole confusing agency thing that was going on, how much Naruto's life would change because of this, how bad things could have gone, how he could have died and left Naruto and his family and friends alone. Everything, all these emotions were eating him up inside and he felt like he couldn't handle it. Eventually though his tears turned into sniffles and he fell into a deep drowsy sleep.

"Hey, Iruka," the man felt himself being slightly shaken to awaken. He opened his eyes and looked over, it was Kakashi and it was dark outside now.

"Hey," Iruka said and came to a few realizations quickly, "I'm sorry about earlier, I never meant to offend you guys."

"Hey, it's all good." Kakashi spooned Iruka because the man didn't seem to want to move. "I reheated your ramen. You need to move around, and eat a little bit."

"The ramen," Iruka sighed, "I totally forgot. Where are the kids?"

"They're at my place tonight," Kakashi said.

"Even the baby?" Iruka asked, surprised. “Where is your place I’ve never been there.”

"I’ll take you there soon," Kakashi said, "Kurenai and Asuma are actually staying with them tonight, along with the baby."

Iruka huffed slightly, "You called my brother on me?" he sighed. "Asuma's busy, he doesn't need to be-"

"Asuma called you, then called Naruto when he couldn't get ahold of you," Kakashi explained. "Everyone is worried about you, and they have a right to be. They love you."

Iruka looked at Kakashi and rubbed his eyes, "You...you too?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi easily admitted.

Iruka hummed, "This...doesn't count okay," he turned around to face Kakashi, "I...I want to exchange those three words for real. Not...when I'm an emotional wreck."

Kakashi nodded, "I think we should get you some help-"

"I don't have time," Iruka dismissed the idea, "I have a newborn and a toddler that I don't know."

"You have to take care of yourself first: before you can take care of anyone else." Kakashi said. He held onto one of Iruka's hands and kissed it firmly. "I made some calls. I talked to your eldest brother Kazuma, he’s going to fly home tomorrow. His wife, and Konohamaru are going to temporarily move in with me in order to take care of Naruto, Rukio, and the baby. Your brothers and I want you to go on this retreat, it's three days. Just you, a therapist, and the beach. It's going to be great for you. I'm going to drive you there, we can stay an extra day, just me and you. We can reconnect."

"Kakashi," Iruka tried to say something in protest.

"Please," Kakashi kissed Iruka's hands, he buried his face into the younger man's chest. "I know it's only been a day but...ya know my Dad commit suicide when I was really young. You're...you're mentally in a bad place...I can see it. Please, get help."

Iruka hummed, "Okay, it sounds...I do need to become emotionally well before I...do all this...I feel guilty for leaving the baby, but...I need to be better, for my new children, for Naruto...for you and Sasuke and Itachi."

"I," Kakashi hesitated, "I don't want to pile onto your worries but I do want to offer. Maybe after the retreat, you can move in with me."

"W-what?" Iruka asked, "We've only been dating for...like a week...or a few days...this is too fast."

"I have," Kakashi breathed, "huge feelings for you, and I know this is too fast but... I want to help. You don't have enough room for three children in this two-bedroom apartment. Naruto is willing to give his room up for the children but you don't have the heart to make him sleep on the couch. You'll make Rukio and the baby sleep in your bedroom with you but...sometimes you're going to need to catch your breath without children. You need your own room. I won't...I won't share a room with you yet, if you want to that'd be great but...I want you to focus on you. I want to be with you of course, but I know that you need to get stronger first. We're...we're in this together but both of us have to be strong separately."

"I can't believe I have a man as handsome, and beautiful, and as kind as you. What we have is new but it feels like..."

"Forever," Kakashi whispered into the darkness, "it feels like I was always meant to be with you."

"Exactly," Iruka responded, "Come on, I need to pee and eat, I'm hungry."

"Glad to hear it," Kakashi replied. They got out of bed, Iruka peed and wound up taking a quick shower. The ramen was perfect, even after being reheated (correctly, broth boiled, piece by piece).

"Oh my goodness! This is amazing!" Iruka moaned as he slurped up some ramen.

"Better than-"

"Never!" Iruka said but smiled, "Honestly, tho this is delicious. Sasuke and Itachi made this?"

"They did, by themselves," Kakashi said, "They're great. I think they are temporarily moving in with me too.”

Iruka raised an eyebrow, “How big is your place?”

Kakashi laughed, “I have a mansion, a cook, and a cleaning staff.”

Iruka was surprised, “Seriously?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he responded, “

Iruka smiled, "Thanks for everything." he said genuinely.

"Ramen, really never fails to get you in a good mood huh?" Kakashi noticed the smile and was happy to see it.

"Never fails!" Iruka responded, "I have to pack after this."

"I'll handle it," Kakashi promised, "just go back and get some rest.”

Iruka was happy he didn't have to deal with this alone.

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	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is essentially a series of one shots to describe life post-retreat.

The retreat had been everything Iruka needed, he wound up staying for a full week instead of just the three days. Then he moved in with Kakashi, (the man failed to mention that he had 8 dogs btw). And before he knew it two months flew by.

“You have to name the baby,” Kakashi pointed out, as he had every morning for the past two months. (Yes they were sleeping in the same bed, it just happened that way.) Sasuke and Itachi had also moved in and they were all currently at the breakfast table. School had started again, and Itachi drove them both to school five days a week before heading into his company. Kakashi and Iruka drove separately to work. Iruka has been working from home lately though. He’s only been going into the office about two times a week, and Kakashi would work from home those two days to be there for the kids.

“What about Naruto?” Naruto suggested, as he had multiple times for two months straight. “Or Orange?”

“I like the name Kai,” Itachi said, he took the naming thing very seriously. He has been heavily researching baby name's; he has made a new suggestion every day for two months straight. “It means ocean, restoration, and recovery. Rukio’s name can mean dark blue-”

“My favorite color!” Rukio agreed happily.

“And your name means Dolphin in the sea. I think Kai is a great name.” Itachi finished his presentation as he does every morning.

“But then his name will be Ocean Sea.” Sasuke pointed out, he either dismissed the name or agreed. Today he was doing both. “But I do like it, very water-based. Rukio’s name means dark blue sea so that’s pretty good too.”

“I like the name Kai,” Naruto agreed. “Plus he’s got blue eyes like me.”

“More like Kakashi’s color actually,” Sasuke pointed out, “But I get the gist.”

“Silver hair like Kakashi too,” Naruto said, “is it possible-”

“Nope,” Iruka denied, he knew that they noticed and had talked about it but never around him. He wasn’t ready for that conversation yet, because then they would ask about Rukio’s parents and he didn’t want to lie; but he also wasn’t going to tell sixteen-year-old Sasuke that he had a son. He had a contingency plan of course wherein he would just say the child came from Orochimaru’s DNA. Long black hair and pale skin were traits Sasuke and Orochimaru’s had in common. It was clear that Rukio was a genius, another common trait.

Kakashi glanced at Iruka, but said nothing. The glance was...haunting, Iruka would have to look into that later. “Iruka will name him later.” Kakashi said; as he had every morning for the past two months. “We have to go to work soon.”

“School,” Naruto corrected.

“And School,” Kakashi amended. “Let’s move along. Are you sure you can take the kids to work with you today?”

“Yes,” Iruka responded, “Asuma said it’s just a quick meeting to discuss a few things.”

“Alright babe,” Kakashi said, “I’ll see you at home.” They shared a quick kiss and went their separate ways. They were supposed to at least but Kakashi was surprisingly at part of the meeting.

“What are you doing here?” Iruka asked.

“Wanted to surprise you,” Kakashi said, picking up Rukio, who was happy to see Kakashi.

“We need to talk.” Asuma caught Iruka's attention, Kazuma was in the office too. Iruka sat down at the round table, the baby was awake but content to just be in his carrier.

“What’s going on?” Iruka asked.

“Kakashi has made an offer to buy our company,” Asuma explained.

Iruka’s gasped, “Wait, what the fuck?” he exclaimed.

“Fuck!” Rukio repeated, and the adults had to keep themselves from laughing.

“Heck, I meant heck,” Iruka said, he glared at Kakashi, “So what, are we going with it?”

“Yes,” Kazuma spoke up, “we’ve been doing some discussing, and none of us are happy with our currency arrangement. I have to travel too often, you don’t love your job and now you have kids to think about, Asuma barely gets to spend time at home with his baby. This is our way out. This will make all of us happier.”

Kakashi interjected, “Asuma and everyone in your company will still keep their jobs. I don’t want to change too much. I'll just be head of the company and-"

"Run a huge profit," Iruka finished, letting some of his anger show.

"Yes," Kakashi retreated and became defensive. "I do expect to profit from this deal, that's fairly obvious, I wasn't keeping that a secret."

“Iruka,” Asuma interjected before things got to heated. “Before you get all emotional about this, now that this is what I want. I can’t...do this on my own anymore. I want help, I want to be able to go home more and spend time with Kurenai and my daughter.”

“Okay,” Iruka retreated because at this point there was nothing that he could do about it. “If this is what we’ve all decided then I agree. It sounds like a plan.”

“Oh and also, you’re fired,” Asuma added not as gently as he thought it would be.

Iruka paused, “Hmm?” he asked after a moment.

“Well these two months you’ve been working from home we’ve discovered that Shikamaru is actually better at your job than you are.”

That was a sting, “Lazy Shikamaru?” Iruka's voice cracked, and Rukio giggled at the sound.

“Yes,” Asuma admitted, “he’s really stepped up his game, and taken on great responsibility. I’d like to give him a promotion but well…”

“You’re in the way,” Kazuma finished, “once Asuma is a little more settled in Kakashi’s company I’m going to quit. I want to go back to being a detective.”

“You guys have been doing a lot of talking behind my back,” Iruka said he was honestly too stressed out being a new parent to get truly mad. “I...I’m glad I’ll have more time to spend with the kids. If Shikamaru is ready and can do my job, then let him. I...I’m not...I don’t really like this job anyway.”

“We know,” Asuma and Kazuma said together.

Iruka laughed, “I...thank you guys for everything. I know I’ve been...a lot lately.”

“We are here for you,” Kazuma said his voice was dead serious. “I mean we are your brothers, we love you.”

“I love you guys too,” Iruka said. He got up hugged both of them. He left the office feeling lighter.

“Want to get lunch?” Kakashi asked falling into step with him.

“Sure,” their hands slid easily into one another's. They decided to get something close so that Iruka didn’t have to do the whole car seat ordeal more than necessary. 

“I reserved a table in the back,” Kakashi held onto Rukio and the baby, “I’m going to take them to the bathroom first.”

“Thanks,” Iruka said, a waitress led Iruka to a table behind a curtain. Two women were waiting for him. He recognized one as Tsunade, owner of all the hospitals in town. She was a world-renowned surgeon. His Father was her mentor of sorts, his Mother Biwako had been a great surgeon and Tsunade used to come over to view her personal library. (Oh and Jiraiya was her husband). He recognized Shizune because they grew up together.

“Hello Iruka,” Tsunade greeted him, “please sit down.”

Iruka did as he was told, “Good afternoon, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” he said formally.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again as well. So I’ve come to understand that you know about our little operation.”

“Hmm?” Iruka asked heavily confused.

“The secret agency. Created by your Father and Shikaku Nara. Now run by me.” Tsunade explained.

Iruka’s eyes popped out of his head, “I assure you I didn’t know-”

“I know you didn’t, but I’ve had close eyes on your unit for some time now. Also don’t think that I haven’t been helping you gain resources to solve cases. Not to mention how I gave you a speedy trial to gain full custody of Naruto, years ago, and now the two others in your care. I had an agent go through the research in that backpack of yours before you even noticed. An Uchiha and a Hatake, you’re raising some important children. But that’s not why I came here. I came to recruit you. Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice. You’ve been working for me for years after all. That little stunt you pulled two months ago, while it was good work, it also showed me that I can’t have you running off the leash anymore. From your job as a former teacher, and the job you just got fired from. I heard you’re a bit of a master with paperwork. I am now recruiting you to work as my Head PaperWork Ninja. A funny title isn’t it, I have a system setup called the Mission’s Room. It's where I direct my agents or units into doing certain missions. It’s all done through the computer. Your job will be to send out missions when I tell you too, and to put mission reports in correct files on our database. Should be simple enough, you will be on call starting in two days. I’m sending someone to run you through the system tomorrow. I know you’ll get the hang of it quickly, you were practically made for this job. The old man who used to do the job retired but I’ll put you in contact if you should need it. This job is done at home so you will still have plenty of time to raise your children. The pay is nice, as well. Well, there goes my time, let’s go Shizune.” The pair stood up and left, leaving Iruka speechless. Kakashi entered a few minutes later with kids in tow.

“You knew Tsunade was going to meet me here?” Iruka asked.

“Yes, she told me her plan. Unfortunately, it looks like I’m in the running to replace her. She likes to keep me in the loop,” Kakashi confessed, “I do think you will thrive at your new job.”

“Thank you,” Iruka responded easily. He looked as Kakashi put a hand on the baby as he soothed him. Kakashi, and Kai. “You know...you know that Kai is your son, too.”

“I was informed,” Kakashi said after a moment hesitation. He blinked, “You...you called him Kai.”

“I like the name,” Iruka clarified, “Kakashi and Kai. Iruka and Rukio. It just...fits.”

Kakashi smiled and grabbed onto Iruka’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

Rukio stood up on his chair, “So babies name is Kai now?” he asked, “Is Kakashi my Daddy too?”

“Of course he is,” Iruka said and moved to make Rukio sit down in his chair properly. “That’s right your little brother’s name is Kai. What do you want to eat?”

Kakashi was too happy to do anything besides smile at Iruka happily.

(Later)  
“We decided to go with Kai,” Iruka informed the family.

Itachi, who was holding Kai in his arms and feeding him a bottle, cheesed, “I knew it!” he exclaimed. “I knew one of these names would stick. I’ve been doing this for two months to no avail and now, it’s finally happened!”

Iruka doesn’t think he’s ever seen Itachi so excited. “Kai’s a good name,” Sasuke said neutrally.

“I was hoping we would just keep calling him baby for the rest of his life,” Naruto remarked disappointed. “Can you imagine a 100 year old man named Baby? It would be pretty funny.”

“Sorry to disappoint you Naruto,” Iruka chuckled.

Rukio spoke up excited to share some of his own news, “Iruka said I can call Kakashi Daddy now too.”

“I’m Daddy,” Iruka corrected, “Kakashi is Papa.”

“Oh right,” Rukio remembered.

Naruto shook his head, “You guys aren’t married though, right?” he pointed out confused.

“We’re not but we decided to raise the boys together,” Iruka explained, they had talked about it in length when they took Rukio to the park.

“No matter what,” Kakashi chimed in. “But I would love to marry your Father, I mean, brother one day. We decided right now would be too soon.”

“We’ve only been dating for like two months,” Iruka pointed out. Kakashi had really wanted to marry him but Iruka just wasn’t ready for all of that right now. “Also I got fired today.”

“Fired?” Naruto asked, surprised. “Big Brother Asuma fired you?!”

“Don’t worry I’ll find a job online or something,” Iruka shrugged. “Right now I’m just going to focus on Rukio, and Kai. I’ll probably start teaching again in a few years when Kai is older. Also, you and Sasuke need to start looking at colleges soon. You are juniors now, it’s the year. I’ll start putting together some portfolios for you to look through.”

“I can take them to visit different colleges,” Itachi volunteered. “You’ll need some activities to boost your resume. Are you guys doing karate club again this year?”

“Nope, Shikamaru offered me a part-time job as his assistant,” Sasuke glowed at the information. “It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

“What?” Naruto asked, surprised, “I’m going to see if Jiraiya will make me an assistant or something!”

“It’s going to be hard work Naruto.” Iruka pointed out, “Both of you should still take karate on the side.”

“I can hire my friend Gai to tutor you,” Kakashi responded.

“Or you can teach them yourselves, in your free time.” Iruka pointed out.

“Oh right,” Kakashi thought about it and decided right away. “We start next week, and just so you know, I will not go easy on you.”

“Deal,” Sasuke said.

“I’m in!” Naruto agreed.

“I would also like to join in, on occasion,” Itachi offered. “I could always freshen up my skills.”

“Didn’t you win a major all ages karate competition when you were like a kid in college?” Iruka remembered hearing the information. “I heard you beat up a bunch of full-grown men.”

“I did yes, that’s true.” Itachi owned up to it, “I believe Kakashi won the same competition years before me.”

“I did,” Kakashi admitted.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, “I’m going to beat you.” they said to each other.

Everyone laughed at that, even though everyone knew they were completely serious.  
*******************************************************************************************  
“So we’re all working the mission’s room now?” Iruka spoke incredulously into his cellphone. Kotetsu and Izumo were on the other line.

“Dude I think we got demoted,” Kotetsu agreed.

“They definitely want to keep a close eye on us,” Izumo agreed. “This is pretty easy though, plus the pay is nice. Kotetsu and I have two jobs now.”

“Except you totally accepted a mission report that you shouldn’t have Kotetsu,” Iruka pointed out, “I’ve been going through some old files. We have to set a new standard these people are turning in literal shit.”

“Here we go again,” Kotetsu said under his breath.

“Looks like he found a new passion,” Izumo laughed, reading some of the comments Iruka had added to a mission report. He literally sent it back with notes to add corrections. “It’s telling idiots off.”

“That’s always been a passion of mine,” Iruka pointed out, “Oh my goodness, this one was written by Kakashi. I’m totally gonna kick his ass when he comes home. This is illiterate and illegible. How? He typed it!” All three of them laughed hard, they were going to like this job.

*******************************************************************************************  
“Fuck you feel so good,” Kakashi thrust in deeper, loving the way Iruka was wrapped around his cock. He actually had the top queen under him this time. One of Iruka’s legs was hooked behind his back, the other flat against the mattress.

Iruka arched his back, everything about this felt amazing. The drag of Kakashi’s hot cock against his inner walls was enough to make him scream. And...he certainly did. Thank goodness for (mostly) soundproof walls. One of Kakashi’s hands was playing with the younger man’s nipple while he continued plunging into him, hard, hitting that spot deep inside of him that made him see white.

Living together made sex so much better, so much more intimate. Iruka moaned, “Nnnnyyuuggghhh, we should cum soon.”

“You’re welcome to cum first,” Kakashi said after a moment.

“I don’t think so.” Iruka huffed, but at this rate, it certainly did look that way. He used his leg to push Kakashi in deeper and he squeezed down on his dick, creating a tight sensation. He placed two fingers in his mouth and started sucking, getting them nice and wet. Letting his spit drip down his wrist.

“Ah fuck,” Kakashi’s breath hitched, and it looked like they were on even playing ground now. He leaned down and brought their lips together.

Iruka playfully put those two fingers into Kakashi’s mouth and watched him suck down on it. He was losing again, but this time he didn’t care. “Mmmmnnngghhh, yeah, baby, keep going.”

Kakashi’s hand found his dick and began to move in tandem with his movement. Sucking down, jerking him off, and taking long deep hard thrusts, hitting his pleasure point until “Nnnyyuuggghhh Kakashi!” Iruka squirted his seed everywhere, tightening down on Kakashi’s cock.

The silver-haired man came with a slight gasp, deep inside of Iruka, and then collapsed on top of him. They may have had two kids, (five if you count the two teenagers, and one young adult currently living with them) but their sex life was still fucking intense.

“You’re a lot more relaxed in bed,” Kakashi noted. “You used to always ride the shit out of me.”

“You try running after a toddler and a baby all day, and then talk to me about riding dick.” Iruka huffed, “Do you want me to ride you more?”

“Do whatever you like to me,” Kakashi responded easily. “I’m yours.” He leaned up and kissed him deeply, lips to lips, passion against passion, no tongue involved.

“I just realized we talked about getting married before we’ve even said ‘I love you’ to one another,” Iruka thought out loud. “Are we doing the right thing? I mean we live together, and we’re raising our children together. You...if you ever have doubts-”

“Iruka,” Kakashi said seriously, staring into those deep brown eyes, “I’m in this.”

“But if you don’t think you could ever ‘love me’ you shouldn’t be,” Iruka said honestly. “I...you’re a good man, but I just want you to think about it. Don’t get so caught up in doing the good or right thing that you settle for less than you deserve. I don’t have those feelings yet but I can see myself falling in love with you, and if you can’t...don’t just be here because you think it’s the right thing to do.”

Kakashi huffed, “You are the kindest person in the world Iruka. You don’t have to worry, I am well on my way to being in love with you. I’m not ‘settling’ for anything. You are what I want.” Kakashi was already in love with Iruka, had been for awhile. After the retreat Iruka had backed down on some of his feelings slightly. They had talked about their relationship. We're not in love, we can't be, it was just an emotional time, Iruka had said. Kakashi disagreed but he understood. He gave Iruka a bit of emotional space for a few days so the man could collect his thoughts. After those few days he returned in full force, dicked him down, and held onto him close. He wasn't going to let the man escape, and he was going to give Iruka everything he deserved...if that was possible?

Iruka shook his head, “Why do you even like me?”

“Are you serious?” Kakashi asked, “Iruka you are the kindest, sweetest, sexiest, most attractive human on this planet. You called me a good man but you’re an even better one. You’re intelligent, smart, and very self-sacrificing. How many times have you sacrificed yourself for others? Do you even know? You sacrificed your life to raise Naruto, sacrificed the job you love to help your brother Asuma, sacrificed your peace of mind to look after Itachi and Sasuke. And now you’re raising Kai and Rukio, and oh my goodness you don’t have to. But you will because you’re the best person in the world. Not to mention the fact that you're sexy as fuck. I’m not good with words ,because trauma, but I have very strong romantic feelings for you. You might say the words first but I will feel them first. I am in this, you make me happy. Do I make you happy?”

“You make me really happy,” Iruka admitted, “I...like you too. It...snuck up on me...the night I told you I had feelings for you...obviously I didn’t mean to. I...treated you like shit ...used you for sex...but you kept sticking by me.”

“I saw right through you,” Kakashi responded, “a man grieving for his Father, a man who takes on everyone else 's burdens and hides his own. It makes sense you would want to bury your feelings for me too. I mean you never officially outright rejected me so that was helpful. It encouraged me to keep trying, you’re someone worth fighting for.”

“For someone who's bad with words you’re certainly making me speechless,” Iruka blushed. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had blushed this hard. When he was younger he used to blush at everything, his friend Genma would constantly make him blush just to see him squirm. Life really takes it’s toll on you. “I liked you before I knew I liked you. You’re funny, annoying, handsome, consistent, thoughtful, sweet, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. And just so you know you are insanely self-sacrificing too. I’m sorry for all the times I treated you like trash. I’m...working on myself. As you know, I see a therapist once a week.”

“You seem so much more emotionally healthy than before,” Kakashi agreed. “Tt looks good on you.”

“Thanks babe.”

“Anytime sweetheart.” He got off the bed and pulled Iruka up with him. “Let’s go shower.”

They showered and slid back into bed.

“I have a question,” Iruka said moments later.

“Sure,” Kakashi blinked his eyes open, “What’s up?”

“Would you let me top you?”

“Aren’t you usually always on top?” Kakashi asked, “I point out earlier that you don’t ride me-”

“No, no that,” Iruka laughed, “like would you let me put my cock inside of you?”

Kakashi wrinkled up his nose, “I guess.”

Iruka chuckled a bit more, “Okay so you’re not into that?”

“I tried it before with an ex,” Kakashi admitted, “I gave it a solid four tries but I just didn’t like it. It’s actually what led to the end of our relationship. He discovered that he really liked topping, and I preferred topping as well. He didn’t want to bottom anymore, and neither did I. After several handjobs and blowjobs later we decided to call it quits.”

Iruka could understand that, “I prefer to bottom, but I like to top sometimes.”

Kakashi thought for a moment, “I can live with that.” he stated. “I really like you, so if you want to top every now and then that’s fine.”

Iruka hummed, “If it’s something you’re not comfortable with we can stop doing it, immediately. I can live without it, completely.”

“Thanks sweetheart,” Kakashi snuggled into him. “Now goodnight.”

“Goodnight handsome.”  
********************************************************************************************  
The week Iruka decided to top, he buttered up Kakashi so much it made the rest of the household uncomfortable.

“Babe, I spent the whole day cleaning and grooming the dogs, and then I gave them a photoshoot too. Can you pick the best pictures? I’m going to hang them in the hallway.” Iruka sang as soon as Kakashi came home.

“We don’t even have pictures in the hallway,” Sasuke pointed out. “And we’re actual human beings that live here.”

Iruka kicked Sasuke from under the seat making Rukio who was sitting in between them laugh madly and leaving Sasuke bitter for the rest of the week.

“Look Papa, I wrote my first sentence today!” Rukio responded, and handed him a piece of paper.

“Papa is the best,” Kakashi read aloud. “Wow, you’re writing now.” He gave Rukio a huge snuggle, “I knew you knew how to read but you know how to write now too! This is awesome. Good job little one. Papa is proud.” He spun Rukio around and kissed him on the cheek.

“I was writing at the age of four as well,” Itachi replied.

“This isn’t about you Itachi!” Iruka hissed, and gave the man’s ponytail a playful tug. “I helped him write it Kakashi!”

“I actually wanted to write the lines from my favorite book but Daddy insisted,” Rukio ratted him out instantly: making everyone in the room sweatdrop (including the dogs).

“I had the chief cook your favorite food,” Iruka left the kitchen an hour before dinner time, he sat on Kakashi’s lap and gave him a huge kiss.

“You realize people are here, don’t you?” Naruto asked. “Kakashi is supposed to be helping me with my homework.”

“Oh right,” Iruka hopped out of his lap, he gave Naruto a smack in the back of the head when Kakashi wasn’t looking. “You little cock block!” he whispered. Kakashi heard him and gave him a funny look but no words followed.

“Alright Iruka,” Kakashi said after an extensive make-out. “I know what you want. You put the kids down so early tonight. I can’t believe you managed to get Sasuke and Naruto into their actual beds at 8 o’clock. They are teenagers you don’t have to tuck them in, you normally don’t. I’m pretty sure the only reason they went to bed is so you could leave them alone.”

Iruka laughed, “Okay so I’m a bit excited.”

“Excited?” Kakashi said, “You’re thrilled! You’ve been so weird all week.”

“Weird?” Iruka asked. “I’ve been doing nothing but showing you affection.”

“I’m pretty sure all the children, including Rukio and Kai know that you’re about to jump my bones.”

“Yup, I want to hear them rattle baby.” Iruka played along, Kakashi couldn’t help but laugh.

“How do you want me?” He pulled off his sweatpants and was already naked.

“Fuck, I just want all of you,” Iruka got on top of him and began to kiss him again. He took off the robe he was wearing and threw it somewhere. Kakashi shivered slightly. Iruka paused, “Are you nervous?”

“Maybe a little,” Kakashi admitted then fixed his statement. “You’re about to put your big ass dick inside of me. Of course, I’m nervous.”

Iruka giggled, “It’ll feel good.”

“I’m living for how happy you are right now,” Kakashi admitted. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down.

Iruka noticed and sat back, removing his body from Kakashi’s, “We don’t have to-”

“I want to,” he awkwardly kicked a leg up in the air, trying to be sex and utterly failing.

Iruka chuckled at the motion, he grabbed lube from the nightstand and put some in his hands. Rubbing them together to warm it up. He leaned down so his face was between Kakashi’s legs and sucked his already hardening cock. He pulled out all the stops: twirling his tongue around the head, playing with the slit, swallowing him down with no mercy, teasing his balls. When Kakashi was nice and distracted, he moved lower, shifting his legs open a little more and wiggled his tongue around his tight entrance.

“Woah,” Kakashi breathed out.

Iruka’s hands were on his thighs as he teasingly pushed his tongue inside.

“Mmmnnnmmm, wow,” Kakashi whispered.

Iruka took his time, getting him nice and wet, playing with the different ways Kakashi reacted to his tongue being inside of him. Kakashi was...loving it, he hooked a leg of Iruka’s shoulder to let the man get a better angle. He held in a whine when Iruka man-handled him; pushing him onto his back and spreading his cheeks wide so he had better access. Kakashi curled his toes and moaned into the mattress. He push his butt in the air so he could experience more. He felt so wet, and open. Before he knew it, he was thrusting back, chasing Iruka’s tongue every time it escaped. By the time Iruka pressed a finger in he was ready. He actually let out a real moan, inside of trying to hide it.

Iruka was mesmerized as Kakashi’s pale flat ass gobbled up his finger like it was a baby bird eating a worm. He was two fingers in now, and he reached in finding the spot that-

“Holy shit!” Kakashi cried out and he came, his legs giving out as he fell into the mattress. Iruka bit his lip hard so he wouldn’t laugh. “Oh kami! Oh kami! I’m so sorry.” Kakashi flipped over and he was blushing madly.

“It’s alright,” Iruka laid down on the bed next to him and pulled him close, pressing a kiss onto his lips. “Want me to help you get cleaned up?”

“Wait, I don’t want to stop,” Kakashi protested. “Give me a few minutes to get hard again and we’ll keep going.”

“We’ve done enough,” Iruka responded and kissed his forehead. “I had fun, you had a great time, we can end here.”

“We were just getting to the good part!” Kakashi insisted. “Whatever you did, felt so fuckin good.”

“Your last partner didn’t do that to you?” Iruka asked, surprised. “You do that to me all the time.”

“I mean he did but it always just felt a little too aggressive, it felt good but also not at the same time. Your soft little caress was everything,” he did a chef’s kiss and smiled wickedly. “I’ve also never been eaten out before, so that was fantastic. Didn’t know it could feel that good, I really want to feel your dick now.” Kakashi lunged and started kissing Iruka heavily. Iruka let himself be complacent as Kakashi dominated his mouth, they were side by side pressed up close. He felt Kakashi’s dick spring to life as it rubbed up against his own. Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s hand and put it on his ass. “Get to work,” he grunted.

Iruka smiled at that and inserted two fingers, Kakashi rubbed his penis against his body as the action took place. Mostly his hip and stomach, occasionally their dicks would touch, and it was heavenly.

Iruka moved so he was on top and Kakashi was on his back. He kissed Kakashi, and stroked him off, three fingers moving inside of the man. Every now and then touching that spot deep inside of him and letting Kakashi moan into his mouth as his body physically jolted at the touch. Kakashi had his legs open, his eyes were lidded watching Iruka’s every movement as the man moved above him. Iruka was so beautiful, he didn’t want to miss a moment. Iruka felt the same way, seeing Kakashi spread under him like this was fantastic. It’s part of the reason he liked to ride him so much. This was different though, still hot, but Kakashi’s flexible manly legs were spread open for him.

“I’m ready,” Kakashi moaned. He had brought his own hands up to play with his nipples.

“I didn’t know you liked having your nipples played with,” Iruka lined himself up.

“Wasn’t even aware I was touching them," Kakashi moved his hands to fist the sheets. Iruka moved his dick along the hole but didn’t put it in. “Oh my god are you teasing me? We’ve come so far now, don’t do this.”

“Are you kidding, I’m waiting for you to relax. You’re so tense, you’re gonna snap my dick off,” Iruka teased back, slapping his tightened stomach for emphasis. “Want me to wear a condom?”

“Hell no,” Kakashi objectedly, he took a few deep breaths to relax. He loosened up his body, he trusted Iruka, he was excited they were gonna have fun. “Alright.”

Iruka pressed in slowly, and stopped at about three inches because he was the devil incarnate.

“What are you doing? Put the rest in!” Kakashi huffed.

“That’s it,” Iruka said using an awkward voice to sell it.

“Oh shit,” Kakashi whispered immediately, feeling awkward, “I wasn’t, I’m sorry…”

Iruka thrust the rest of the way in all at once, and Kakashi let out a very sexual sounding scream.

“Oh you bitch!” Kakashi complained in absolute embarrassment. He was relieved he hadn’t accidentally disrespected Iruka’s size though.

Iruka was full on laughing because that was the funniest thing he’s ever heard in his life. “I didn’t even know you could make those noises.”

“Shut up,you better take this to the grave,” Kakashi huffed but he was laughing too; despite, the fact that Iruka was balls deep inside of him. The man knew exactly what it was doing, all of Kakashi’s nerves were gone. “Come on, start moving, have sex.”

“I’m sorry, I’m still thinking about that scream.” Iruka was actually cracking up laughing, Kakashi could feel the vibration of it actually moving inside of him, it felt good. He groaned and decided to take matters into his own hands, he flipped them over. He’d never ridden anyone before but it can’t be that hard.

He got up and slid back down, it was...very deep, it didn’t feel bad but it didn’t feel that good yet. He was overcome by a feeling of insecurity.

Iruka flipped them back over, (with a bed of their size they were nowhere near the edge). He kissed Kakashi deeply as he moved out, letting his penis drag against Kakashi’s insides and then pushed back in. He grabbed the man’s waist and slid a pillow under it, the new angle let him hit-“Hhhhyyyyuuuuuuu!” Kakashi cried out, “There!”

Iruka doubled down, hitting him there repeatedly, and Kakashi could not hold back his moans. Everything about this was perfect. He ground down, moving his hips, hitting it twice with each thrust. Kakashi was getting close but he was holding on as best he could. He came unexpectedly again, Iruka grabbed onto Kakashi’s hips and doubled down his efforts so he could finish quicker.

“Come on baby, give it to me good,” Kakashi encouraged him. It still felt so good, he flexed so that he was tighter and Iruka came a few thrusts later, spilling deep inside of him. Kakashi’s breath hitched at the feeling. Iruka collapsed on top of him, their lips met for a few sloppy kisses before they settled down next to each other. Catching their breath.

“Thanks for, letting me do this,” Iruka spoke first.

“Are you kidding me?” Kakashi replied. “That felt amazing,” he intertwined their fingers and kissed Iruka’s hand. “Honestly it was really really good. I don’t know why we haven’t done that before. I’m...so freakin happy right now! Everything about this was fantastic. Can we go one more time, before we go to sleep?”

Iruka smiled, “You’re already going to be sore tomorrow, take it easy.” he responded. “We can do this again sometime if you want to.”

“I definitely want to!” Kakashi exclaimed, “This honestly erases all my bad bottoming experiences. We can go fifty-fifty if you want.”

“Forty-sixty,” Iruka countered, “and you’re the sixty. I like bottoming.”

Kakashi smiled, “Well I do too now,” he teased, “I can definitely do forty-sixty. Anything to have sex with your ass.”

“Was that-”

“A pun, yes.” Kakashi got up first, “Let’s shower, and brush our teeth.”

“Let’s go.” Iruka agreed.

(Next morning)  
“Oh kami!” Kakashi said when he stretched in the morning, “You weren’t kidding about the being sore thing.” He reached over for Iruka but the man was already gone, which was pretty normal. He was probably taking care of Kai, the baby woke up so early in the morning. He limped downstairs, everyone was already eating breakfast. He must have woken up late.

Itachi, Naruto, and Sasuke clocked his limp instantly. Itachi smirked, Sasuke flat out laughed, and Naruto looked like he wished he were anywhere but here. Their reaction got Iruka’s attention, he turned to Kakashi, Kai in his arms.

“Here,” he one-handedly threw a small container at Kakashi.

“Pain-killers,” he read the label, “thanks.” He took one and stood awkwardly near Iruka at the table, there was no way he was going to sit down.

“Why are you standing Papa?” Rukio asked, and the boys couldn’t help but laugh now, even Iruka chuckled a bit.

“I heard a strange scream last night,” Itachi started, he was straight up giggling.

“Me as well,” Sasuke said, “I wonder what it could have been.” Sasuke was trying to hide his laughter but his shoulders were shaking.

Naruto was too grumpy to say anything, he knew wayyy too much about his brother’s sex life.

Kakashi pointedly ignored them and kept looking at his man. “Here, some tea, it should help you relax.” Iruka handed the mug up to him. “I called into work and told them you were taking the day off. I suggest taking a bubble bath later today.”

“Want to join me?” Kakashi asked, casually.

“I do!” Rukio responded, and that’s how. Kakashi, Iruka, and Rukio ended up wearing swimsuits in a bubble bath on a Thursday night. Because the tub was massive and was basically a jacuzzi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi joined them after putting Kai to sleep. That is also the beginning story of how Kakashi wound up being rushed to the hospital to get stitches in his head. Naruto and Sasuke’s roughhousing spilled half the water out onto the bathroom floor, which a limping Kakashi slipped on, and promptly banged his head against the countertop splitting open his skull. The important thing to remember is that this all happened because Iruka wanted to top, and Kakashi would honestly do the whole thing over again at any time.

Iruka kissed Kakashi's stitches with a smile, it was nice not to be alone.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter! Thank you for making it to the end! I hope you liked it!

“I ran into Anko today,” Kakashi said casually. It was Saturday, the teens were out with their friends, and Itachi was working the weekend away. Rukio was rewriting sentences written by Kakashi. “Rukio, make sure you add the line to your a’s otherwise it’s an o.”

“Yes Papa,” Rukio sang. They were all sitting in the living room surrounded by dogs, Rukio was using Bull as a backrest as he wrote at a mini table.

“Iruka did you hear me?” Kakashi asked.

Iruka had Kai doing tummy time, the baby seemed to be enjoying it, he wasn’t crying at the very least. “I did.”

“Well, it’s been a long time since you snapped at her. You should probably schedule some time to sit down and talk with her.” Kakashi suggested.

Iruka hummed, “I know, that reminds me. Genma called me yesterday.”

Kakashi smiled, “Really? How is Raido doing?”

“He’s doing a lot better, they invited us over for dinner tomorrow, actually,” Iruka responded.

“Your family is coming over for dinner tomorrow though,” Kakashi pointed out. “I haven’t seen Kurenai in ages.”

“She’s been home with the baby just like me,” Iruka replied. He picked up Kai because he’s pretty sure the baby was pooping. He could tell by the grunts and the face he was making. “I heard she’s been trying to get back in shape though, I can’t imagine what being pregnant is actually like. She was always pretty fit until she got pregnant, ya know? Must have been rough, emotionally I mean. Anyway, I told them we were busy. Probably a week-night if I can get one of the kids to babysit.” Iruka turned over to snap at one of the dogs, “Bisuke can you-” The dog grabbed the diaper bag which was behind him and carried it over, “Thanks buddy.” He prepared everything but didn’t start changing Kai yet; he would wait until the baby was done popping. Pakkun knew what was coming and moved, accidentally sitting on the remote and blasting the toddler show to a maximum. Kakashi reached over and turned it down but the noise startled Kai into crying. Iruka stood up rocking the baby back and forth until he calmed down.

“It’s okay, Kai, it’s okay baby,” he cooed.

“You’re a great parent.” Kakashi praised. Rukio had left his work to jump on top of Bull and ride him but was really just pulling his ears. Kakashi was tired of redirecting the child’s attention to his school work.

Iruka moved over, grabbed Rukio by the shirt one-handed and placed him back at the table. “Pay attention baby boy,” he helped Kakashi out. “You’re almost done! Only two sentences left, and you did your ‘a’s with the tail good job. Their not ‘o’s anymore.” He encouraged, before turning to Kakashi, “You’re a good parent too, couldn’t do this without you. Having Sasuke, Naruto, and Itachi around certainly helps though.”

“Itachi tried to pay me rent the other day-”

“What’s rent?” Rukio asked.

“Nothing Rukio,” Kakashi hummed, “anyway I declined it. He understood and he hasn’t spoken to me about it since.”

“It was a nice gesture, he’s a good man,” Iruka responded, Kai was screaming louder. Kai was actually a pretty docile baby, he only cried when he was startled or his diaper was full. Now both were happening. Iruka got on the ground to change his diaper, just hoping he was done pooping at this point, he wasn’t sure. He was not, the baby’s screams were pushing poop out of him. Iruka just sighed and waited until he was done, the dogs had backed away at this point. When he was truly done, Iruka cleaned up the mess, changed the baby, and stood up to rock Kai again. Singing sweetly to him to try and comfort him. Rukio was at his knees asking for a snack.

“Kakashi can you-”

“Yup,” Kakashi picked up the child and took him to the kitchen; the chief probably already had something prepared. Iruka went upstairs and rocked Kai to sleep. He placed the baby in his crib and then used his phone to call Anko.

“Hey,” she answered on the second ring, her voice was soft.

“What are you doing right now?” Iruka asked.

“It’s my day off,” she replied.

“Want to come over?” He asked.

“Really?” She said after a moment.

“Yeah,” Iruka replied, he texted Kotetsu and Izumo too. The three of them arrived at the same time. Iruka greeted them and invited them in.

“Wow, bruh, you live like this?!” Kotetsu’s eyes went wide. “I’m moving in.”

“You are not,” Iruka denied the idea completely.

Izumo laughed at the two, “Where is Rukio?”

“Outside with Kakashi,” Iruka responded, “the baby is awake too, also with Kakashi. I tried to get him to nap but it didn't take.”

Izumo and Kotetsu left, and Iruka led Anko to the living room. He sat on the couch, and Anko was on the ground playing with the two dogs that were inside, Pakkun (the lazy fuck) and Shiba (sprained his ankle last week). “I’m sorry for everything I said,” Iruka apologized after a moment. “I...wasn’t ready to-”

“I crossed the line,” Anko replied. “I was bringing up all sorts of information to guilt you into trying to help me. So for that, I’m sorry.”

Iruka got off the couch and gave her a hug, “Have you seen Raido yet?”

“Nope, Genma has him locked up. He’s been taking good care of him I hear. You’re doing excellent work at the Mission’s Room by the way. I heard you’re kicking virtual ass.”

“I was surprised to see your name come up,” Iruka admitted. “The agency has it’s hooks into literally every major company and department. But anyway, I should have reached out earlier I’ve been so busy with the kids-”

“Wow, you’re a whole Father now. I mean you’re basically a husband-”

“Not quite yet-”

“Yet? Wow, you really like him, don’t you?” Anko teased.

“I really do,” Iruka admitted.

“Well I really like Ibiki too,” Anko said after a moment.

Iruka gave her a wide smile, “I knew you were dating someone! I could have sworn it was Gai!”

“I was dating them at the same time,” Anko admitted, “but...I like Ibiki more. Gai and I were...too much together, it was a little toxic actually. It’s strange, we’re both good people but the way we acted together it was wild. The sex was crazy though, a little too crazy, he bent me into so many positions. Sex with Ibiki is a lot more controlled, and he’s so aggressive that shit is hot as fuck, and his dick is bigger, a lot bigger. I mean he’s so tall. Both of them were so muscular but Ibiki has height, scars, and he’s hot as fuck. While Gai riled me up Ibiki knows how to control me, and he really gets me. Gai has too many secrets, and never talked about his past. Ibiki didn’t at first but the more he liked me he opened up like a book. My strong sensitive Daddy-”

Iruka laughed a bit, “Anko I’m so happy for you.” he said, “I agree you and Gai would be a bit too much. You and Ibiki balance each other more. How long has this been gone on?”

“I dated both of them for three months, then Ibiki and I went exclusive, it’s been three months since, so...we’ve been together for six months. Honestly, I’m really really happy. What about you, you’ve been a whole Father for three months. I gotta meet the kids.”

“Let’s go outside,” Iruka suggested, they stood up together and Iruka pulled Anko into a tight hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t reach out, I’m really really sorry. I love you Anko. You’re my family.”

“I love you too,” Anko said, “and I should have reached out to so I’m sorry.” That’s the thing about Anko (Kotetsu and Izumo too), they could fight, yell, scream, not talk for ages, and hurt one another but at the end of the day...they’re family. The positives always outweigh the bad. All the times they’ve hurt each other are a small fraction of the times they’ve made each other laugh, smile, sing (karaoke go crazy), dance, and be together in total joy. Seeing Anko, Kotetsu, and Izumo bond over being enamored with Rukio and Kai made his heart so happy. Iruka held Kakashi’s hand and smiled up at him. This was all he wanted. Peaceful moments with the family that he chose.

Of course, the family he was adopted into was just as precious. Seeing Mirai and Kai together was honestly the most adorable thing ever. Kasi and Kurenai were snapping a thousand photos of the two babies together. They were all in the living room after a delicious dinner. Asuma, Kazuma and Kakashi were chatting about something or other. The family had taken his relationship with Kakashi in stride. Something tells Iruka that Asuma had totally given Kakashi relationship advice. Rukio was sleeping in Kazuma’s lap, Kasi was already snapping pictures of the toddler who had just fallen asleep. If it were possible he knew she would totally have another child. He remembers the sadness the couple felt when they found out they couldn’t have another. But now they were so happy with Konohamaru it’s hard to remember things being different. Sasuke and Itachi were sitting together, Konohamaru sprawled on both of their laps as the boys were playing the same game together on their phones. Iruka had gone to the bathroom but was now standing in the doorway watching them because he didn’t want to forget this moment. Naruto came up behind him and slid under his arm, they gave each other a side hug as they watched this moment together.

“I wish Dad were here,” Naruto whispered.

Iruka nodded his head, “Me too.” That’s the thing about family, you take the sad and the happiness and you mush them all together. You grow, and heal together. Ohana means family and family means, nobody gets left behind...his thoughts shift to Orochimaru momentarily...or forgotten.

Iruka hung up pictures of him and his original parents, he wished he could remember them. He hung up pictures of Kakashi and his Dad, Kakashi remembers the man. He hung up pictures of Kakashi’s Mom, she died during childbirth. Kakashi came up behind him, “I like the changes. The hallway is perfect now.”

“We shouldn’t forget them.” Iruka stepped back to survey his collection of photos, it was a true work of art. It was everything and everyone that mattered; Ikkaku, Kohari, Sakumo, Kakashi’s Mom, Hiruzen, Biwako, Asuma, Kazuma, Kasi, Kurenai, Konohamaru, Mirai, Sasuke, Itachi, Kotetsu, Izumo, Anko, perfect head shots of all 8 dogs (honestly the most professional photos on the wall), Kakashi’s friends Gai and Tenzou, a perfect candid of Shikamaru, Raido and Genma, Tsunade and Jiraiya (a photograph from their wedding day; Shizune was in the background), Naruto, Iruka, Kakashi, (of course) and the newest additions Rukio, and Kai. “I hope I didn’t forget anyone.” He left Orochimaru out, the man was basically a mass murderer and whatever familial feelings he had were wrong, conflicted, bad...they were real.

Kakashi smiled, “It’s perfect,” He held onto Iruka’s hands. “This has been the happiest three months of my life, and just so you know, I’m in love with you.”

“Did you seriously have to say it first?” Iruka complained, “You can’t let me have anything, can you?” Kakashi laughed out loud, surprised at the reaction. “I love you too. Come on Raido and Genma are waiting for us.”

“So casual,” Kakashi teased. "I know that took a lot out of you."

Iruka wiggled his nose, “Oh Kakashi, my love for you is as deep as the ocean! I wanna deepthroat you and swallow all your seamen,” he said in a broadway voice.

Kakashi laughed, “Alright, alright, I get it.”

“You guys are fuckin disgusting,” Sasuke protested holding Rukio on his hip.

“Fuckin disgusting!” Rukio cheered.

Iruka put a hand to his head, “We’re going to have to homeschool for life.”

Kakashi chuckled, “Goodnight baby boy!” He pressed a kiss to his son’s head, and then kissed Sasuke’s forehead to be funny. Sasuke was unfamiliar with what to do about the affection, he punched Kakashi’s arm lightly then kissed his cheek, Iruka’s cheek, and Rukio’s. Itachi who walked in halfway through the kissing did the same thing, and then Kakashi and Iruka kissed his cheek. Naruto got in on the action, and it was too much at once, and Sasuke and Naruto accidentally wound up kissing on the lips and everyone saw the whole thing.

Rukio laughed loudly, "Sasuke and Naruto kissed, the way Papa and Daddy kiss!"

“Let’s never speak of this again,” Naruto whispered.

Everyone gave a light giggle, “Goodnight, we’ll be back before morning.” Kakashi promised.

“Call us if you need us, we’ll be home right away.” Iruka told them seriously. They went to the car, Genma and Raido had moved to a safehouse; one of Iruka’s first tasks at the mission desk was to arrange all the details. It turned out to be unnecessary but they could keep the house for two years before having to pay (thanks to Iruka btw). It was a small one story house in a suburb outside the city where it was quieter. Kotetsu and Izumo had visited them on Sunday when Iruka was having his family dinner. Raido had had health issues at first, he had been pumped full of chemicals. It wasn't killer but it did make life uncomfortable. Thankfully after a few months they were able to flush his system free. He had been dehydrated and had signs of starvation when Iruka found him. Kotetsu and Izumo described him as being thin, and weak.

Iruka didn’t doubt it, he was panicked. Back when he was figuring out that he was bisexual it was Raido who was by his side. The man had been a mentor to him since childhood. He would come over with everyone to hang out with Asuma (their house was the spot). Raido would always find some way to sneak off and play with Iruka for a bit. Paying complete attention to him when no one else would because it was “uncool”. Iruka found out later in life that Raido’s little brother had died years before. Iruka and the boy would have been the same age. Suddenly, Raido’s desire to spend time with him (sometimes over his friends) and always make him feel loved made a lot more sense. Regardless Raido was another big brother figure to him, and he felt guilty about not rescuing him sooner. He knew that at any point in his life, even if they didn’t talk for months, he could call Raido and tell him everything, and the man would be there for him. Their Mother’s (Iruka's birth mother) were friends apparently, Iruka didn’t remember. In some ways, Orochimaru and Raido’s involvement with his family was almost similar. But Raido was a good man, a great one, and Orochimaru was...evil.

“Are you ready for this?” Kakashi asked.

“I don’t know.” Iruka breathed, he felt his anxiety kicking in. Before he could start hyperventilating Kakashi held onto his hand tightly, pulling him back. Iruka gave him a kiss, it was unromantic, soft, more a stabilizing feature than a connection between two individuals. “I’m ready.”

They went inside, Genma had made dinner, Raido answered the door because he insisted on doing it. Kakashi greeted Raido with a light hug and then went to go help Genma set the table; leaving Iruka and Raido alone. Raido was thin, but he wasn’t pale which was a good sign. Would he ever recover? The doctors said he would, that’s all that matters. Iruka couldn’t help it, he started crying, and Raido smiled because he knew this sensitive boy.

“I love you,” Iruka cried and hugged him ever so gently.

“I love you too, Iruka,” Raido encircled his arms.

Everything came rushing back…  
**************************************************************************************************  
“Where do you three think you’re going?” Raido asked, amused as Kotetsu, Izumo, and Iruka were caught red-handed. They had beer bottles in their hands; as much as they could carry and honestly, they looked ridiculous. They had decided to try their first drinks that night, sure they were in middle school but they could handle it. “Guys come on, put that stuff down, you only need a few bottles.” He helped them put everything back, amused at the young teens.

“We were going to get wasted in the backyard,” Izumo ratted them out first.

“Ya know, I actually figured that out,” Raido responded. “Let me tell Asuma, I have to dip, and I’ll take you three to a cool spot.”

Asuma, Genma, Kurenai, and Anko came downstairs, “We’re coming,” Asuma said, “We’ve got to see this.”

They piled into three cars and drove up the mountain path to the city's lookout. It was nighttime, and the city under them was all lit up like stars above them. They sat on top of the hood as they all watched Kotetsu, Izumo, and Iruka take their first drink. It was bitter and left a funny taste in their mouth. They all pretty much gagged, and the older teens laughed. They were all under the drinking age mind you.

“Raido try this,” Genma tried to get Raido to drink.

“Kurenai and I are the designated drivers,” Raido reminded them.

“I’m the DJ!” Anko decided as she went inside Asuma’s car and blasted a burnt CD she always kept with her; “just in case” she always said. Everyone kept drinking, and having a good time. Anko and Kurenai were dancing in the dirt. Genma was throwing up in a bush, and so were Kotetsu and Izumo. Asuma was relaxing and looking at the stars tuning everyone out. Iruka, like his brother, was relaxed on the hood of the other car. He was looking up at the stars, his head against Raido’s shoulder.

“Raido,” he whispered. “I think I’m a bad person.”

“What makes you say that?” the teen said in stride.

“I...do stupid things...I make my family worry about me," and then quietly just like that he vents to Raido about everything. At one point he was speaking so quietly he wasn’t if the teen could hear him. About almost joining a gang when he was eight, about his mother’s death, about how he met up with Orochimaru and the complicated feeling he had for the man hate? Familial love? “I just feel like this whole life thing isn’t for me? I feel like I’m bad at it ya know? Maybe everything would be better if I died?”

Raido put an arm behind his back and sat the both of them up. Iruka wiped his tears, “Look around,” Raido said. And Iruka did, Anko and Kurenai were sitting on the car with Asuma now, all three of them screaming the words of the song playing. Genma, Kotetsu, and Izumo were laughing as they sat in the ground close to where they threw up, being stupid, and exchanging jokes. “You are surrounded by people who love you. Life is complicated, feelings are even more complicated but,” Raido’s eyes got watery, “I’m so glad that you’re alive. You’re here, right now, breathing, and living, and being emotional but you are here. You are going to make your life matter, you are going to do so many great and amazing things. You just have to get through this. Remember, life is complicated and hard, and sometimes ugly, and weird, but it is so so worth living. Look around, all these people love you, every single one. And you love them too, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then stay alive. Life is going to get harder and harder but stay alive. You have people who care about you. I will always love you and be here for you, okay. Never forget that? You’re not alone. I’m here, I see you. I want you to be alive, we all do.” He hugged Iruka and pulled him close, “You’re not alone.”

*******************

“Hey, are you awake?” It was 3am, Iruka was a senior in high school, Raido was off at college.

“I’m here, what do you need?” Raido asked, music was bumping in the background and then faded away as he left it all behind.

Iruka was crying, and he just let himself cry for a moment, “Raido I just wish, I wish, I wasn’t alive. What am I doing with my life? My dream school didn’t accept me, I’m like bisexual and no one knows cause they’ll think I’m a freak. I’m ugly. I’m so much darker than everyone around me. I just, I hate myself.”

“Iruka, I love you,” Raido hummed. “I am here for you. You are not alone. First of all, you’re not ugly, you are the cutest teenager I know. You may not be ready to come out now but you will one day, and it’s going to be awesome. You’re going to get accepted to a great college-”

“You don’t know any of that-”

“Yes, I do. You know why? Because I believe in you. You are not alone. I will stay on the phone with you for as long as it takes. I will convince you. I will be here until you understand how important you are, and how much your life is worth living.”

Iruka didn’t say anything he just cried.

“Iruka, I’m here. You are not alone.”

**************************************

“Hey Iruka,” Raido came up to him, it was one of the only faces out of countless he would remember that day. Raido wasn’t looking at him with pity, he was looking at him as if he saw him. “Your speech was great.”

“My Dad was a great man,” Iruka’s voice was monotone, wrong, it felt scratchy in his throat. He wanted to die.

“You don’t have to...avoid your feelings,” Raido said after a moment. It seemed like he was going to avoid this conversation but then changed his mind at the last minute. “Your Dad died, you’re allowed to be sad.”

Iruka looked around the room, Asuma was crying, Naruto was crying, Kazuma was numb to it all. “They need me,” he whispered, “I have to be strong.”

“But you don’t have to carry your strength all by yourself,” Raido reminded him. “I’m here, I’m right here beside you. You are not alone.”

Iruka gave Raido a long hug. “You are not alone,” Raido repeated in his ear and pulled him close. It was just a tear, one small tear that left his eye.

*****************************************

(The week before Raido’s disappearance)

Iruka laid on his bed and checked his voicemail, “Hey Iruka, it’s Raido. It was nice running into you last week, I was hoping to follow up with you. We haven’t spoken in like a year. Kotetsu and Izumo mentioned that you’ve been closed off even to them.” Iruka huffed. “Don’t get mad that we were speaking about you, we're just...concerned. I...know you’ve been avoiding me because you know I want to talk about your feelings with you. Your Dad died, and it’s okay to be sad and cry, and take some time to mourn. Don’t...you can’t just bottle everything up, you’re going to explode and I just...I really want you to be alive. If you could please please call me and stop avoiding me, that’d be great. You’re not alone Iruka. I love you, please call me.” Iruka wiped the tears from his eyes as he saved the message in his phone. He wasn’t ready to talk to Raido yet, he just wasn’t. He hated being alone in his apartment, he missed Naruto, he missed having a reason to wake up in the morning. He hated his life, he wanted to die. He took a deep breath, he had to remind himself that everything was going to be okay, even if it didn’t feel like it. He wasn’t alone. He replayed the voicemail over and over until he fell asleep, he let the words write themselves in his brain. He wasn’t alone.

***********************************************************************************************  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t come for you sooner,” Iruka mashed his face into Raido’s shirt, careful not to throw his weight on him.

Raido was smiling, “Iruka, you saved me at exactly the right moment. I read your mission report, your very first mission report, welcome to the Agency by the way. You did everything right, I am fine. I’m getting healthier each day. Orochimaru didn’t do his worst to me, because he knows how important I am to you. You were what saved me. You kept me from dying. Everything you did was enough.”

“I’m sorry,” Iruka repeated, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Raido said, “Thank you for everything Iruka, Thank you , thank you.”

“No!” Iruka protested, “Thank you for everything! You’re so important to me! I love you.”

“I love you too, Iruka,” Raido repeated. They hugged in the hallway and cried together for a long time. When they were ready they joined the others in the kitchen. Genma and Kakashi got to work re-warming up the food. It was delicious and conversation flowed freely. Raido and Genma announced that they were getting married, Kakashi and Iruka cheered. They also gave their (unneeded but welcome) approval of Kakashi and Iruka’s relationship. Raido demanded to meet their children, and they promised it would happen soon. Raido got a little too sleepy halfway through, and Kakashi and Iruka got up to say their goodbyes. It had been a great night. Iruka was so happy that Raido was okay, and Raido felt the same way about Iruka.  
***********************************************************************************************  
Radio's engagement band was beautiful, it was gold with diamonds all around it. Kai’s hand was wrapped around the finger, as Raido held him. It’s been six months since Raido was taken by Orochimaru. He was much healthier now, he gained some of the weight back. Honestly, he felt amazing, he still had spells of weakness but he wasn’t sickly anymore. He wanted to be back on active duty but they wanted to wait a year. For now he was working with Iruka, Izumo, and Kotetsu on the Mission’s Room. It was...what he needed and he really liked the job. The comradery was the best part. He cooed at Kai as he looked around at the collection of photos in the hallway. He felt touched when he saw photos of himself and Genma added into the fray. In the middle of the array of framed photographs were words painted on the wall in beautiful cursive. “You are not alone.” he read them out loud. He nearly got emotional, he held Kai a little closer. I’m glad you remembered Iruka, he thought to himself as he surveyed the photos more intently, look at all the people who love you. You are indeed not alone, I’m glad you are alive to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to comment (I love comments)!  
> If you liked this story or liked my writing style, I would recommend reading my other story Learning Together.  
> I'm thinking of creating a Learning Together 2 in the future (some ideas and drafts already in the works). I'm also thinking of furthering this story as well, but it's up in the air right now. I have a few other things I'm working on but I love writing KakaIru, expect more of that in the future.  
> Thank you again, best wishes, always.


	10. Bonus!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added this chapter as a bonus!  
> Extra Smut!  
> Kotetsu x Izumo x Iruka  
> This mini-chapter happened pre-novel shortly after Hiruzen's death. It provides more context of what happened between Kotetsu, Izumo, and Iruka and the way it impacted Iruka. It also really shows Iruka's growth from his Father's death to now, he's still healing and he is doing better.
> 
> (Also keep in mind that Kotetsu and Izumo were trying to help Iruka, a bit misguided but they do truly have love for him.)

Iruka was laying in bed. For the third day in a row his limbs felt too weak, he didn’t feel like moving. He wasn’t thinking he refused to, Kotetsu and Izumo had entered his apartment and were moving around. They’d been in the back of mind for the past two days.

“Here, eat something” or “Come shower Iruka” or “Let’s get dressed for the day” or “Come on move around a bit.”

He listened to them for the most part, Naruto was staying with Kazuma and Kasi because Konohamaru requested it. The two needed each other right now, and supposedly Iruka needed these two.

He was sleeping when he felt a pair of lips meet his, waking him up slowly. He kissed back on instinct, then blinked his eyes open. It was Kotetsu's face in front of his, he was on Iruka’s right side, a hand resting gently on Iruka's face. Izumo was on his left, hand rubbing the inside of his thigh softly, sensually. Kotetsu kissed him again more firmly this time, Iruka was coming to full consciousness now. This felt...good. Iruka sighed into the feeling. Kotetsu moved back and Izumo took his place. Kissing Izumo was equally as fantastic. Iruka slipped in his tongue in as Kotetsu’s hands began pulling his sweatpants down. He felt cool air on his dick, along with Kotetsu’s warm hand. Kotetsu seemed to know just how to stroke Iruka, up and down, a twist and he was hard fairly quickly. Izumo removed his shirt, leaving Iruka bare to both of them. Kotetsu and Izumo took a quick moment to get naked as well.

They’ve never done this before. Iruka has slept with both Kotetsu and Izumo on separate occasions but never together. Iruka moaned when Kotetsu's tongue explored his dick. Kotetsu swirled his tongue around the head then moved his mouth down, taking him in, sucking him down. It was...hot. Izumo pressed into him closer, they were both watching Kotetsu for a moment. Izumo wanted attention too, he pressed his lips hard against Iruka's and wiggled his tongue in. Iruka let himself be dominated by Izumo, let the man own his mouth; claim him. Iruka moaned, everything felt incredible, he felt Kotetsu swallow around his dick and he broke the kiss with a loud moan.

“Feeling good?” Izumo asked.

“Yeah,” Iruka gasped, his voice was desperate. 

“Let me make you feel better,” Izumo promised, Kotesu moved back and Izumo moved to straddle him slowly taking Iruka's dick in his ass. He had been prepped Iruka wasn’t sure when, but it felt amazing being inside of Izumo like this. Warm, and wet, and so so tight. Izumo seated himself all the way down, and he let out a moan. Iruka was deep inside of him, connecting them together.

“Fuck you’re so big,” Izumo said appreciatively as he took a moment to get adjust. Iruka moved forward connecting their lips hoping to get rid of the discomfort Izumo was feeling. Iruka’s hands came to rest on his waist and rub his back. Izumo let Iruka take the lead enjoying the feeling as their tongues danced. Izumo's hands found Iruka's chest and he pushed him down breaking the kiss. Izumo looked beautiful as he confidently began to move up and down on Iruka's dick. Riding Iruka in earnest, hitting himself on that spot that was making him go insane. He moaned loudly, and Iruka found himself moaning as well. This is the best he’s felt since...his thoughts were distracted as a scream fell from his lips. Kotetsu had lubed up his hand and shoved two fingers in his ass.

“Good job Izumo,” Kotetsu praised. “You’re riding him so well.”

The dual stimulation of being ridden and Kotetsu’s fingers rhythmically thrusting into him was heavenly. Kotetsu added a finger and eventually slipped in a vibrating dildo with just a bit of trouble. 

“Mmmnnnghhhhh!” Iruka bit down on his lip, and arched his back. He felt so full, and having his dick in the hot canvas that was Izumo was too much. He came deep inside of him, and Izumo came a moment later spilling his seed on Iruka’s chest.

“That was beautiful.” Kotetsu praised them, he carefully moved Izumo to the side and then flipped Iruka over. “You look like you’re nice and ready for me.” Kotetsu responded as he pulled the dildo out and then slid his own dick inside.

“Fuck,” Iruka screamed out, he was already getting hard again. He didn’t even know how. 

“Yeah,” Kotetsu agreed. “get on your hands and knees.”

Iruka moved to obey the command. Kotetsu wrapped his hand around Iruka’s dick and began to stroke him off as he set a fast relenting pace. It felt...fantastic, Iruka was rocking back on Kotetsu’s dick like he owned it, toes curling and fingers tightening in the sheets. It was so deep inside of him, it was like they were one. It was incredible.

“Iruka,” Izumo whispered, Iruka hadn’t even noticed that the man had crawled in front of him. Izumo was hard now too, his dick was in front of Iruka’s face, the man was on his knees before him. Iruka leaned forward and swirled his tongue around the head, playing with the slit for a moment before he took Izumo deeper into his mouth. He moaned around the dick in his mouth as the dick in his ass hit the right spot.

He swallowed Izumo down, and began to bob up and down Izumo’s dick: keeping it in rhythm with the way he was thrusting back on Kotetsu’s dick. His mouth and ass were full, this was...perfect. This was everything he needed. Izumo came first, releasing down Iruka’s throat. The sensation was enough for Iruka to spill his seed all over Kotetsu’s hand, and Kotetsu released inside of him. They collapsed on the bed in a heap then moved to get comfortable. Kotetsu got up to get a washcloth and clean them all up. Iruka’s sleep wasn’t plagued by nightmares that night, as his two best friends curled around him, protecting him for himself.

**************

“Fuck, Iruka!” Izumo cried out. The man had one leg wrapped around Iruka’s waist, and his hands were digging into the couch cushions.

Iruka was grunting as he set up a steady rhythm, it felt so good being inside of Izumo like this. They always had a strong connection, always, and Iruka needed to feel connected to someone. Izumo's hands sought Iruka's body, touching his abs, but mostly scratching down his back. The little bit of pain spurring Iruka to move faster and faster. Izumo was getting close, he needed to, express himself.

“Iruka,” one of Izumo’s hands found his face, and Iruka was almost swept away by the emotion in Izumo's eyes. “I love you.”

Iruka stopped what he was doing, the words had thrown him off. He leaned down and kissed Izumo deeply. “I love you too,” he responded, because in that moment the two of them were all that mattered. Iruka slowed his pace down, he brought his hand to stroke Izumo off. He focused on bringing Izumo pleasure, every little hitch of breath, every moan. As he built up speed the moans got louder. He was balls deep, hitting Izumo where it count as he watched the man spill his seed. Iruka came a moment later overwhelmed by their connection. What would they tell Kotetsu? Right now it didn’t matter, right now they had each other, and Iruka wasn’t alone.

****************

“Fuck, Kotetsu!” Iruka moaned out, he was splayed out on the kitchen table. Kotetsu was giving it to him, good. His hands were on Iruka’s waist angling him just right, filling Iruka up and making him moan again and again. Iruka's felt lost as Kotetsu drove into him, filling him, making him feel sexy, and desired, and so fuckin wanted. Kotetsu was entirely focused on Iruka's pleasure. He had one hand curled around his erection, keeping it in rhythm with his thrusts. The other was playing with one of Iruka's nipples, rubbing the hard nub over and over.

"MMnnnuuuggghhh!" Iruka cried out loudly. "Kotetsu!" It was like Kotetsu had memorized his body, the way they were intertwined. They were in sync, connecting, becoming one.

“Fuck Iruka,” Kotetsu yelled. He leaned down and intertwined their hands, “Iruka I love you so fuckin much.”

Their eyes met and Iruka blushed under the man’s crazy smile, this was so Kotetsu. The man was insanely happy, and it made Iruka want to be happy too. “Yeah, I love you too Kotetsu.”

“Really?” Kotetsu leaned down and kissed his neck knowing all the places that made him wiggle and moan. Iruka came unexpectedly, and after a few thrusts Kotetsu finished inside of him. He was still holding Iruka in his arms. “You’re so freakin gorgeous, do you really love me? I love you.”

“Yes, I love you,” Iruka responded and meant it, because he needed this...needed this strong connection with someone who loved him. He needed not to be alone.

************************

Iruka felt sick to his stomach. When he wasn’t being filled by Kotetsu’s dick, he was filling Izumo with his own. He felt stressed on top of the fact that he was now Fatherless. They were friends and now they were...this, and he hated it. Were his feelings genuine? Did he love both of them? Did he love one more than the other? He didn’t want to choose. He didn’t want this. He felt like an asshole. He was just throwing his body around without care. After sex he still felt empty, their connection wasn’t enough. He still felt alone. He didn’t want to have sex with either of them anymore. He just felt so conflicted on top of the unhappiness he was already feeling. He could feel himself crawling into a deep and dark hole. He left, it was his apartment but he left. The air was toxic there, he couldn’t breathe. He wouldn’t allow himself to cry. He checked into a hotel, and he didn’t contact anyone. He wasn’t sure what happened during that time. If he was being honest he probably cried a shit ton. But he didn’t feel it, he didn’t feel the way the sobs tore his throat open and took the air from his chest. He was just numb, this stuff was happening to his body, but his soul was still, silent, nonexistent? No, he was still alive, right? Right, if you could call this living.

Asuma found him, three days later. He had traced his bank account, Iruka wasn’t even aware he had access. He had been laying on his back for three days. Realistically he must have moved, he had eaten the complimentary snacks that came with the room, the empty wrappers were proof of that. He must have gone to the restroom a few times, but he didn’t remember any of it. He remembered Asuma crying and shaking him. He remembered Asuma hugging him but he doesn't remember feeling it. He remembered the moment his soul entered his body again as he hugged his older brother, trying to comfort him.

Trying to speak words even though his throat was parched, “Stop crying, I’m fine.”

“No you’re not!” Asuma had yelled, “What were you thinking? What if I hadn’t found you?”

Iruka felt light-headed and sick, for a moment Asuma looked just like Hiruzen. Concerned, and Iruka was a child again. No, no, that...his Father his dead. A tear left his eye, “I miss Dad,” and with that he passed out in his brother’s arms.

He woke up in the hospital suffering from dehydration. Asuma kept it a secret, which Iruka appreciated. After the hospital visit he somehow felt better, he had to be there for Naruto again. And they fell into a routine. Asuma offered him a job which Iruka accepted quiting his old one. Iruka was worried at first that this was a ploy that Asuma set up so he could keep a close eye on him. Then he realized that Asuma truly did need help running the business, and he got to work.

Kotetsu and Izumo were long time employers of the company and the job put them back in contact. They pulled him off to the side and apologized profusely.

"We are so sorry for everything." Kotetsu apologized.

Izumo cut in, "We don't know what we were thinking. We thought we could make you happy but we hurt you and we are sorry...the timing is bad-"

"I just want to be friends with both of you," Iruka told them straight out. "I'm sorry for any pain I caused but...can we just put everything behind us? Because right now I just need my friends, nothing else."

They shared a look and then nodded their heads. "Of course," they said in unison and hugged their friend tightly.

Having the situation and tension relieved felt good, he had his friends back, and he had his life back. He had responsibilities to attend to: He had to continue taking care of Naruto, he had to help Asuma run the company, he had side projects with Kotetsu and Izumo, he had things to do....For now, he would live, whether he wanted to be alive or not. No one had to know how bad he was hurting; at the end of the day he was completely fine. He would just go through this alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to comment (I love comments!)!  
> If you liked this story or liked my writing style, I would recommend reading my other story Learning Together.  
> I'm thinking of creating a Learning Together 2 in the future (some ideas and drafts already in the works). I'm also thinking of furthering this story as well, but it's up in the air right now. I have a few other things I'm working on but I love writing KakaIru, expect more of that in the future.  
> Thank you again, best wishes, always.


End file.
